'Memory' and sustention of microdischarges in a steady-state DBD: volume plasma or surface charge?

The results of a numerical study on the spatio-temporal behavior of transient microdischarges (MDs) in a steady-state dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) excited by a sinusoidal voltage are presented. MDs have a spatial 'memory'?every subsequent MD appears at exactly the same location occupied by the MD at the preceding half-period (HP). In the majority of cases each MD appears at its location only once during every HP. For such a case, the memory effect is not attributed to the residual surface charge deposited by the preceding MD but determined by the residual MD plasma column shunting the gap right up to the beginning of the next HP. In contrast to good memory in space, each individual MD has a large scatter with time in its appearance within every HP, i.e. there is no 'memory' concerning the phase of an applied voltage. This MD jittering within the period is attributed to the stochastic nature of partial surface breakdowns around the bases of the MD plasma column. Numerical calculations show that surface breakdown provides an MD current splash at every HP. Hence, in the steady-state DBD, the volume plasma is responsible for the existence of MD spatial 'memory' (i.e. where the MD appears), and the deposited surface charge is responsible for MD jittering in time (i.e. when the MD appears).