Increased surface flashover voltage in microfabricated devices

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a fabrication process modification that more than doubles the surface flashover voltage in microfabricated devices, enabling higher electric fields for advanced applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel fabrication technique that significantly increases surface flashover voltage in microdevices, facilitating improved performance in quantum and nano-fabricated systems.

Findings

Flashover voltage more than doubled through fabrication modifications

Enhanced device performance in vacuum environments

Implications for scalable ion trap quantum technology

Abstract

With the demand for improved performance in microfabricated devices, the necessity to apply greater electric fields and voltages becomes evident. When operating in vacuum, the voltage is typically limited by surface flashover forming along the surface of a dielectric. By modifying the fabrication process we have discovered it is possible to more than double the flashover voltage. Our finding has significant impact on the realization of next-generation micro- and nano-fabricated devices and for the fabrication of on-chip ion trap arrays for the realization of scalable ion quantum technology.