On the effective diffusion length for microwave breakdown

The concept of effective diffusion length, as a means to characterize diffusion losses in calculations of microwave breakdown in radio frequency (RF) devices with inhomogeneous electric fields, is discussed in detail with emphasis on geometrical situations where the inhomogeneity of the microwave electric field plays an important role for the breakdown threshold. In particular, good analytical approximations are found for the microwave breakdown threshold field, in a number of different geometrical situations. Finally, an explicit experimental example demonstrates how the effective diffusion length in a coaxial resonant filter structure can be inferred from a set of breakdown threshold data obtained for different pressures.