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Investigating antennas as ignition aid for automotive HID lamps

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2015 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 025201

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 Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 025201 (18pp) doi:10.1088/0022-3727/48/2/025201

Investigating antennas as ignition aid for

automotive HID lamps
ABergner, MEngelhardt, SBienholz, CRuhrmann, THoebing, SGroeger,
JMentel and PAwakowicz
Electrical Engineering and Plasma Technology, Ruhr University Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany

E-mail: bergner@aept.ruhr-uni-bochum.de

Received 31 July 2014, revised 27 October 2014

Accepted for publication 7 November 2014
Published 10 December 2014

Abstract
This paper considers the ignition of mercury-free high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps for
car headlights. Due to safety reasons, these lamps need to have a fast run-up phase which is
ensured, amongst other things, by a high Xe pressure of roughly 15bar (cold) in the discharge
vessel. The high Xe pressure causes an increased ignition voltage compared with former
mercury-containing automotive HID lamps or low-pressure lamps used for general-lighting
applications.
The increase in ignition voltage can be limited if the electric field in front of the electrodes
is raised by an uplifting of the electrical conductivity along the outer wall of the inner bulb
either by a conductive layer on its surface or by a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) within the
outer bulb. This paper considers on the one hand conventional antennas deposited by physical
vapour deposition (PVD) and on the other hand a combination of these antennas with a DBD
within the outer-bulb operated in 100mbar Ar as ignition aids. In both cases the antenna
potential and antenna width are varied. Additionally, the effects of antenna thickness and
antenna material are investigated.
The ignition voltage, ignition current and light emission during ignition are measured on a
nanosecond timescale. Furthermore, for the very first time, the ignition process is recorded in
four consecutive intensified charge-coupled device images using a high-speed camera system
with a time resolution in the range of nanoseconds.
It was found that antennas strongly reduce the ignition voltage of automotive HID lamps.
Active antennas reduce the ignition voltage significantly more than passive antennas,
proportional to the conductance of the antenna. Combining conventional antennas with an
outer-bulb discharge reduces the ignition voltage from 19kV without any ignition aid to the
intrinsic ignition voltage of the lamp below 10kV, in the best case.

Keywords: HID lamp, ignition, DBD, streamer, antennas, PVD

(Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)

1.Introduction efficacy advantage of HID lamps compared to conventional

High-intensity discharge (HID) lamps have been well-estab-
lished light sources in car headlights for many years. In 2012,
low-power HID systems (D5 and D8 standard) were intro-
duced to the market in order to also employ HID technology
in mid-segment cars. The reduced input power of 25W (for-
merly 35 W) makes the HID-headlamp system simpler and
more cost effective, but maintains the lumen output and
halogen incandescent lamps (e.g. H7 standard). Therefore,
research and development of automotive HID lamps is stimu-
lated by these new systems today [1].
In contrast to most other HID lamps, there are high require-
ments on automotive HID lamps, namely a fast run-up phase and
the possibility of hot restrike. The fast run-up is achieved by an
exaggerated power input during a few ten seconds after ignition
and by increased buffer gas pressure of about 15bar Xe within

0022-3727/15/025201+18$33.00 1 2015 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 025201
the lamp vessel. The pressure is about two orders of magnitude
higher than in lamps used in general-lighting applications. This
poses a challenge for ignition. An automotive HID lamp from the
latest generation has an ignition voltage of about 20kV without
any ignition aid [1]. Among other things, current research focuses
on the reduction of the ignition voltage of automotive HID lamps
[111]. A hot-restrike of HID lamps with mercury as buffer gas
leads to similar high ignition voltages [1221].
There are several methods to reduce the ignition voltage
of (automotive) HID lamps. A capacitively coupled auxiliary
electrode can be melted into the discharge vessel [22] initi-
ating a pre-discharge. UV enhancers are also well-established
ignition aids in HID lamps for video projecting systems, e.g.
UHP lamps [23]. For automotive HID lamps an outer-bulb
discharge is often used as ignition aid [1, 47]. This dis-
charge within the outer-bulb is a dielectric barrier discharge
(DBD) which is ignited on the rising voltage pulse of the lamp
igniter. The outer bulb is filled with a gas or gas mixture below
atmospheric pressure (e.g. 100 mbar Xe). This outer-bulb
DBD ignites prior to the inner-bulb discharge and reduces
its ignition voltage. Detailed investigations on the outer-bulb
discharge were recently presented in [1]. The main question
was whether the outer-bulb DBD works as UV source similar
to a UV enhancer or as a transient plasma antenna similar to
metallic antennas [1820]. It was shown in [1] that the outer-
bulb DBD acts predominantly as transient plasma antenna.
The free electron density within the DBD enhances the elec-
tric field in front of the lamp electrodes and initiates a pre-
discharge between the respective electrode and the wall of the
inner bulb. The electrons and ions from this pre-discharge ini-
tiate surface streamers along the wall [1, 2].
From this point of view, electrical conductivity and, thereby,
field enhancement can also be induced by an antenna on the
outer wall of the inner bulb. The use of antennas as an ignition
aid for HID lamps is well-known and well-established [2, 18
20, 2430]. We address the investigation of different antenna
concepts for automotive HID lamps within this paper. Antennas
exist in many different configurations. The fundamental differ-
ence between antennas is their potential. Antennas with floating
potential are called passive antennas, i.e. the antenna is not con-
nected with one of the lamp electrodes [2, 31]. Passive antennas
moderately increase the electric field in front of both elec-
trodes. In contrast, active antennas are connected with one of
the lamp electrodes. Thereby, these antennas have grounded or
high voltage potential. The electrical field is strongly increased
in front of the one electrode at opposite electric potential and
diminished in front of the electrode at antenna potential.
There are quite high requirements on the antenna material.
The melting temperature has to be as high as possible to avoid
melting or evaporation during lamp operation. Furthermore,
the thermal expansion coefficient should match the burner
material to avoid damage as a consequence of the expanding
burner wall during lamp operation.
Within this paper, the effect of active and passive antennas
on the ignition voltage of automotive HID lamps is addressed.
Different antennas are deposited on the outer surface of
the inner bulb of automotive HID lamps by applying phys-
ical vapour deposition (PVD). The antenna potential (high
2
A Bergner et al
voltage, grounded, floating), the antenna geometry as well
as the antenna material are varied and the influence on the
ignition voltage of the lamp is investigated. Initially, these
measurements are presented with an evacuated outer bulb.
In a second step, the same measurements are presented with
100mbar Ar in the outer bulb. An outer-bulb DBD is initiated
which reduces the ignition voltage as described above [1, 47,
10]. In combination with an antenna, a synergistic effect was
found which drops the ignition voltage even further than one
of these ignition aids would individually do.
2. Experimental setup
2.1. Automotive HID lamps
The investigated lamps belong to the most recent generation
of automotive HID lamps. A description was already given
in [1]. The lamps have a nominal input power of 25W and
a luminous flux of about 2000lm. The inner as well as the
outer bulb are made of quartz. The inner bulb is ellipsoidally
shaped and two tungsten electrodes are melted face to face
into the discharge tube. The electrodes are made of tungsten
to sustain the heat load from the light-producing arc discharge
which takes place in the 3.9mm long electrode gap. The dis-
charge tube is filled with 15bar xenon in the cold state. A few
additives, especially sodium and scandium iodide, are also
filled in to adjust the light properties, e.g. colour rendering
index (CRI) and corresponding colour temperature (CCT).
Some of these additives also induce the gas-phase emitter
effect which reduces electrode losses and, thereby, increases
lamp lifetime [3345].
The inner bulb is enclosed in an outer bulb which has dif-
ferent functions: It insulates the inner bulb thermally from the
outer bulb to improve the efficacy of the lamp by an increased
wall temperature. The outer bulb is filled with gas atmosphere
below atmospheric pressure (e.g. 100mbar Xe), if an outer-
bulb DBD is used as ignition aid. Furthermore, the doped
outer bulb blocks UV radiation from the arc discharge.
The scattering of the lamp properties by manufacturing
tolerances can mostly be neglected, if the ignition voltages
of different lamps are compared in this paper as was demon-
strated in [1] figure13. It shows that the differences between
the average ignition voltages of five lamps without ignition
aids are less than 1kV, which is mostly lower than the effect
of any applied electrical ignition aid.
2.2.Antennas
Physical vapour deposition (PVD) is used to deposit antennas
onto the inner bulb of the lamp. The coating serves for an
investigation of their functionality in terms of lamp ignition.
They have to provide reproducible conditions in dependence
on different antenna parameters. It is not intended to substitute
conductive lines, which are actually realized with a thickness
of 1m by tampon printing [18].
2.2.1.PVD setup. The vacuum chamber for the PVD pro-
cess consists basically of a CF200 six-way cross made from
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 025201
Figure 1. Schematic drawing (top view) of the mask for the PVD process and photograph of a lamp with sputtered Ti antenna marked by a
red rectangular. The antenna has a width of 4mm and a thickness 200nm.
stainless steel. From the upper and lower side, two electrodes
with a diameter of 98mm are mounted into the chamber. The
upper electrode is equipped with a target made of Al, Cu, Fe,
Ni, or Ti, respectively. To induce a dense plasma in front of
the target, an unbalanced magnetron is mounted behind the
target. A specially designed substrate holder for automotive
HID lamps is mounted on the counter electrode. It fixates the
inner bulb of lamps during deposition. The upper side of the
holder forms a mask to deposit antennas with defined geom-
etry on the inner bulb of the lamp. A schematic drawing of
the upper side of the substrate holder and a photograph of a
sputtered Ti antenna on the inner bulb of the lamp are shown
in figure1.
The magnetron electrode is powered by a 13.56MHz RF
generator with a maximum power of 600 W. A matchbox
between generator and plasma ensures impedance matching
to transfer as much power as possible from the generator to the
plasma. To ensure a stable deposition process and to reduce the
thermal load of the target and the magnetron behind, the elec-
trode is thermally stabilized by a water cooling unit. Detailed
information on the PVD setup can be found in [46, 47].
2.2.2.Thickness and physical properties of film anten-
nas. Depositing films on HID lamps with defined thick-
nesses by the PVD process meets the challenge presented
by the curvature of the lamp tube. Many methods, which
3
A Bergner et al
are commonly applied to thin film diagnostics, cannot or
not directly be applied to HID lamps. Profilometers only
work on flat substrates, e.g. Si wafers, while laser scan-
ning microscopes (LSM) focus poorly on transparent sam-
ples like a lamp tube. Thus, we decided to calibrate every
depositing process. In addition to the lamps, an oxidized Si
wafer (hereafter called reference wafer) was fixed on the
substrate holder during every process (see figure1). About
half of the wafer area was covered with Kapton tape to
achieve a defined layer edge. Afterwards, the layer thick-
ness was measured with the profilometer at three positions.
It is assumed that the layer thickness on the Si wafer was
equal to the layer thickness on the lamp. Nevertheless, this
assumption is only valid in the pinch region of the lamp
where the quartz surface is flat. Following the curvature of
the lamp tube from that point, the layer thickness decreases
because the tube surface faces the target under different
angles. Unfortunately, this decrease of layer thickness is not
represented on the reference wafer, but comparable for all
deposition processes. Thus, only the maximum layer thick-
ness on the lamp surface is determined by the profilometer
measurements on the reference wafer.
The layers deposited by the PVD process are at least in part
of amorphous consistency which may change into a micro-
crystalline state by an additional heating [48]. Especially the
ohmic resistance of the layer is changed by the proceeding
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 025201
Figure 2. Schematic drawing (side view) of the model outer bulb including an inner bulb with antenna.
crystallisation, but in a hardly predictable way. Therefore,
heating up of the antenna by an operation of the lamp is avoided.
2.3. Lamp diagnostic setup
The lamp diagnostic setup consists of three main parts, namely
the so-called model outer bulb, the igniter with trigger input
and the electrical and optical diagnostics. A detailed explana-
tion of these parts was recently given in [1]. Therefore, only a
short overview is given here.
The model outer bulb was developed to investigate the
effect of an outer-bulb discharge on the ignition voltage of
automotive HID lamps [1]. Its dimensions are similar to a
normal outer bulb of automotive HID lamps, but additionally
it has a pump port to exchange the outer-bulb gas. A schematic
drawing of the model outer bulb is given in figure2. Arbitrary
automotive inner bulbs can be mounted into the model outer
bulb. The outer bulb is sealed vacuum- and gas-tight by
O-rings and specially designed clamping rings on each side
(see figures1 and 2 in [1]). The outer bulb is evacuated by a
two-stage pumping process with a dry-compressing fore pump
(Pfeiffer Vacuum MVP015-2) and a turbomolecular pump
(Pfeiffer Vacuum HiPace 80) down to pouter1107mbar. To
operate an outer-bulb discharge as ignition aid, the outer bulb
can be filled with different gases. The pressure is controlled
by a hand-driven needle valve and recorded with a capacitive
vacuum gauge (Pfeiffer Vacuum CMR361).
In contrast to a conventional lamp igniter, we use an igniter
with a trigger input here. This igniter with trigger function
was developed to synchronise the ignition pulse with the
exposure time of an ICCD camera. The electrical circuit was
already described in [1] in detail (figure 3 in [1]). The jitter of
its trigger delay time is less than 1ns. The igniter provides a
maximum voltage of 22 kV. To ignite the lamp a slew rate of
the voltage pulse of 114 Vns1 is adjusted.
A pulse delay generator (Stanford Research DG645) is
used to control and to synchronize lamp ignition with ICCD
exposure. The ignition voltage is measured with a high voltage
A Bergner et al
probe (Tektronix P6015A) and the ignition current with an
inductive current probe (Pearson 2877). The light emission
accompanying ignition is focused on a fibre-coupled photo
diode with an integrated transimpedance amplifier (Femto
HCA-S-200M-SI). These three signals are recorded with an
oscilloscope (Tektronix DPO4104) with a time resolution
of 200ps. The fourth channel of the oscilloscope is used to
visualise the trigger signal for the ICCD camera. A schematic
drawing of the setup is given in figure5 of [1].
Different to the setup in [1], we used a more powerful ICCD
camera, namely a PCO hsfc-pro. This camera system includes
four independent ICCD cameras with only one optical input.
The incoming light is internally distributed to the cameras by
mirrors and beam splitters. Differences of the optical path length
are balanced with the mounting positions of the cameras. All
cameras can be triggered with only one trigger signal, a so-called
master trigger. The exposure and inter-framing times as well as
the gain of the micro channel plates (MCP) are controlled inde-
pendently with the camera software. Thus, for the first time, it is
possible to record a sequence of four consecutive images of the
ignition process of automotive HID lamps. The lamp is focussed
on the image plane of the camera system by a macro lens (Nikon
Micro-NIKKOR 105mm 1:4). In order to get the highest light
intensity, the largest aperture of 4.0 was used.
Pictures taken with the fourfold ICCD camera are pro-
cessed for viewing convenience. This is done automatically
with a Matlab script. We initially take a background picture of
the HID lamp body mounted in the experimental setup in front
of a diffusing screen. This picture has an adequate exposure
time to show all relevant features. To produce a sketch-like
graph, we apply a Sobel operator [49, 50] to the background
picture. This gives a picture that only shows the dominant
edges of the HID lamp body, i.e. the main parts like the walls
of inner and outer bulb and the electrodes.
The pictures taken during lamp ignition are processed
in such a manner, that all pixels with intensity below a cer-
tain limit are set to full transparency. All pixels above this
threshold are set to 30% transparency. The transparent picture
4
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 025201 A Bergner et al

Figure 3.(a) Four consecutive ICCD images (texp=10ns, td,inter=1ns) and (b) corresponding electrical measurements of ignition with
antenna on high voltage potential and pouter=0mbar. The antenna, electrically connected with the right hand side lamp electrode, is made
from Ti, the thickness is 200nm and the width 4mm. The outer bulb is evacuated.

of the streamer discharge is then superimposed over the afore-
mentioned sketch-like background picture. Therefore, the
electrodes or bulbs can still be seen through the discharge.
The threshold is automatically calculated from the mean
intensity of a discharge picture. Different light intensities are
represented by pseudo colours, with blue for low intensity,
and along green and yellow to red for high intensity.
For these experiments the outer bulb was evacuated, so that
an outer-bulb DBD is avoided and only the antenna effect is
studied. At first, the influence of antenna potential is investi-
gated by means of high-speed photography. Subsequently, the
effect of antenna potential and antenna width are considered by
electrical measurements. The less significant effects of antenna
thickness and of antenna material are shown in the appendix A.

3. Results and discussion
3.1. Antennas as ignition aid with evacuated outer bulb
This sectionpresents measuring results of the ignition voltage
of automotive HID lamps with antennas as an ignition aid.
3.1.1.
High-speed photography with evacuated outer
bulb. The influence of the antenna potential is studied by
high-speed photography. The antenna consisting of a Ti-layer
is located at the lower side of the inner bulb (see figure 2).
The antenna has a thickness of 200nm and a width of 4mm.
This is the standard geometry within this paper. It means that

5
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 025201 A Bergner et al

Figure 4.(a) Four consecutive ICCD images (texp=10ns, td,inter=10ns) and (b) corresponding electrical measurements of ignition with
antenna on grounded potential and pouter=0mbar. The antenna, electrically connected with the left hand side lamp electrode, is made from
Ti, the thickness is 200nm and the width 4mm. The outer bulb is evacuated.

a sectionof 115 of the bottom of the bulb representing 23%
of its side view is shaded by the antenna. Three different cases
of antenna potential, namely high voltage, grounded and float-
ing potential, are presented in figures35, respectively. The
photos mainly reproduce the inner bulb of the lamp. For all
high-speed photos in this paper the exposure time texp and the
inter-frame delay time td,inter are adjusted together with the
MCP gain by trial and error in such a way that the images
provide an optimal information on the ignition process.
Figure 3(a) shows four consecutive images (upper left
to lower right) of the ignition process with antenna on high
voltage potential, while the corresponding electrical signals
are given in figure3(b). The ignition voltage Uign is given by
the blue, the ignition current Iign by the red and the photo diode
signal UPD by the green curve, respectively. The exposure time
is texp=10ns and the inter-frame delay is set to td,inter=1ns.
The exposure windows of the cameras are also shown by black
bars in the figure. Furthermore, the cyan curve represents the
master trigger Utrig for the camera system. When the signal
switches from low to high level, the exposure time of the first
camera begins. The trigger-delay-time of the camera system
is taken into account by the oscilloscope. Within all images,
the powered anode is located on the right and the grounded
cathode on the left side. The antenna is electrically connected
in figure3(a) with the lamp electrode on the right-hand side.
The first image shows the beginning of the breakdown in
the inner bulb. In the vicinity of the cathode (left), a pre-dis-
charge is observed as a result of the increased electrical field
in this region. It can be interpreted as a DBD between the
cathode and the positive antenna. Additionally, at the anode tip

6
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 025201
Figure 5.(a) Four consecutive ICCD images (texp=10ns, td,inter=1ns) and (b) corresponding electrical measurements of ignition with
antenna on floating potential and pouter=0mbar. The antenna is made from Ti, the thickness is 200nm and the width 4mm. The outer bulb
is evacuated.
(right) a corona discharge takes place. As a result of this pre-
discharge a surface streamer is initiated (see second image)
along the lower part of the discharge vessel. One channel is
already closed between the anode tip and the cathode pinch.
This is the typical behaviour for this antenna configuration,
nevertheless sometimes the streamer starts also at the cathode
tip instead of the cathode pinch. In the third image the devel-
opment of further streamers begins, which form a closed
channel in image four. Here, the maximum of the voltage
pulse is reached. The ignition voltage is 11.8kV. Due to sta-
tistical effects, the ignition voltage can fluctuate for different
ignition attempts. This statistical variation will be discussed in
sections3.1.2 and 3.1.3. The picture series clearly shows that
the surface streamers are guided by the antenna. All discharge
channels are only located in the lower half of the discharge
7
A Bergner et al
vessel. This is a significant behaviour if an antenna is applied
as ignition aid [18], especially if the inner-bulb pressure is
higher than atmospheric pressure.
Figure 4 shows the result for a grounded antenna. The
cathode is still located on the left and the anode on the right-
hand side. The antenna is now electrically connected with the
lamp electrode on the left hand side. The exposure time of
the cameras is still texp = 10 ns and the inter-frame time is
now td,inter=10ns. In the first image, a pre-discharge between
the anode tip and the antenna is observed. This discharge
becomes more intense in the second image. It is induced by the
enhanced electric field between the anode and the antenna on
cathode potential. After that, in the third image, the streamers
start at the anode as well as at the cathode tip. A streamer
propagation beginning at the cathode pinch was not observed
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 025201
since the electric field is weak between the cathode and the
antenna. The surface streamers are also guided by the antenna
at the lower side of the burner. In the last image, several
discharge channels are already closed. The ignition voltage
amounts to 12.1kV which is slightly higher than in case of the
high voltage antenna described above. The slight difference in
the ignition voltage for those two potential configurations is
often observed (see [18]) and will be discussed later in more
detail (see figure6) in section3.1.2.
The third case which shall be discussed is the floating
antenna, i.e. the antenna is not connected with either of the lamp
electrodes. The antenna potential is adjusted by induced charges.
As already mentioned, the electric field is increased in front of
both electrodes but not as much as with an active antenna in
front of one electrode. Figure5(a) shows the image series of
the ignition process with floating antenna. The exposure time
is texp=10ns and the inter-frame delay is set to td,inter=1ns,
respectively. The beginning of the ignition is similar to the
beginning of the ignition with the high voltage antenna. Pre-
discharges are located in the vicinity of the anode as well as
of the cathode. This can be explained with the field enhance-
ment in front of both electrodes. From these pre-discharges,
streamers start to propagate from both electrodes to the other
as shown in the second and third image. The streamers start
from anode tip and propagate to the cathodic pinch and vice
versa along the tube surface. In the fourth image, the discharge
channels are closed and also predominately located in the lower
half of the discharge vessel. They are guided by the antenna in
this configuration as well. For this configuration the ignition
voltage amounts to 13.4kV which is about 1kV higher than in
case of the grounded antenna and about 1.5kV higher than in
case of the high voltage antenna, respectively. The flat course of
the current pulse (5A) is a result of clipping caused by the high
amplification of the pre-current.
Initiation of lamp ignition by surface streamers without
an antenna was already shown by short-time photos and
a preceding DBD at the cathode pinch and a preceding
corona in front of the anode tip was already shown in
[1, 2]. Therefore, a presentation of high-speed photos without
antenna is omitted. Summarising the investigation with high-
speed photography, the high voltage antenna seems to be the
best, while the grounded antenna is only marginally worse
and the floating antenna is the worst antenna configuration.
However, it has to be mentioned that this statement is only
based on single measurements for the three antenna configu-
rations. The relevance of this statement is checked in the next
sectionby a statistically relevant amount of measurements.
3.1.2. Electrical measurements with different antenna potential
and evacuated outer bulb. For further measurements, every
lamp was ignited 100 times with an inter-ignition time of 5s
which is long enough to avoid warming-up of the burner. The
transition to an arc discharge is technically avoided, since we
only consider cold ignition within this work. Therefore, the
antenna is protected from thermal load.
The ignition voltages are presented by probability plots
showing the measured values as cumulative frequency distri-
butions [51]. Only a short explanation of this kind of plot is
A Bergner et al
0.995
0.99
0.95
0.9
0.75
probability
0.5
0.25
0.1 ref
0.05
float
0.01 GND
0.005 HV
10 12 14 16 18 20 22
Uign / kV
Figure 6. Probability plot for the cumulative frequency distribution
of the lamp ignition voltage Uign with different antenna potentials.
The antennas are made from Ti, the thickness is 200nm and the
width 4mm. The outer bulb is evacuated.
given here. The ordinate of these plots is scaled in a way that
normal distributions are represented by straight lines (dashed
lines in the figures, e.g. figure6). A comparison of the meas-
uring values with the straight lines shows how far the meas-
uring values fit to a normal distribution. The mean value of
the measuring values is located where the distribution function
crosses the 0.5-probability line in case of a symmetric distribu-
tion, e.g. normal distribution. The slope of the straight lines is
related to the standard deviation of the measuring values. The
steeper the straight lines, the smaller the standard deviation.
Figure 6 shows the lamp ignition voltage Uign in depend-
ence of the antenna potential, namely high voltage, grounded
and floating potential. The antenna consists of Ti, has a thick-
ness of 200 nm and a width of 4 mm. The reference lamp
does not have an antenna or any other ignition aid. It is clearly
shown that the ignition voltage is reduced with an antenna.
The mean value of the ignition voltage for the reference lamp
is 19 kV and the scattering is between 14.5 kV and 21 kV
which is a very high scattering. The enhanced steepness of
the probability plot above 20kV is presumably an outcome
of the reduced slope and increased duration of the applied
voltage pulse at higher values caused by the upper limit of
the available igniter voltage. The passive or floating antenna
has a mean ignition voltage of 14 kV and the scattering is
significantly reduced in comparison with the reference lamp.
A further reduction of the ignition voltage is achieved by the
active antennas. The mean value of the ignition voltage of
the lamp with the grounded antenna amounts to 12.3kV. The
scattering of the ignition voltages is also reduced, but there
are few measuring values around 14kV. They indicate that the
length of the surface streamers is not defined by the cathodic
pinch as in figure3(a) and 5(a), but may vary as suggested by
figure5(a). With the help of the high voltage antenna the igni-
tion voltage of the lamp is slightly reduced compared with the
grounded antenna. The mean value is 11.9kV and the scat-
tering of the measuring values is between 11kV and 13kV
which is rather low. The difference between high voltage and
grounded antenna can be explained by the different proper-
ties of the pre-discharges on the cathode and anode side. In
8
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 025201
0.995
0.99
0.95
0.9
0.75
probability
0.5
0.25 ref
0.1 2 mm
0.05 3 mm
0.01 4 mm
0.005 360
9 11 13 15 17 19 21
Uign / kV
Figure 7. Probability plot for the cumulative frequency distribution
of the lamp ignition voltage Uign for different antennas widths. The
antennas have high voltage potential, are made of Ti and have a
thickness of 200nm. The outer bulb is evacuated.
case of the high voltage antenna a DBD is initially formed
between the cathode and the antenna tip (see figure3(a)). It
covers the tube wall in front of the cathode pinch on the side
of the antenna tip with a negative surface charge which is an
appropriate starting point for surface streamers towards the
anode. The terminal point of the streamer is on the cathode
side mostly the crossover of the tungsten electrode from the
pinch into the tube. It may be an indication of a reduced work
function at this point. The gap between wall and anode is
bridged by the corona discharge in front of the anode tip.
Similarly in the case of a grounded antenna, a DBD is formed
between the anode and the antenna tip (see figure 4(a)). It
covers the tube wall in the vicinity of the anode with a posi-
tive surface charge which is less effective as starting point for
surface streamers. The breakdown between cathode and wall
is additionally hampered by a too low voltage drop between
both of them. Therefore, mostly the cathode tip is the starting
point of surface streamers in case of a grounded antenna.
The reduction of the ignition voltage with the floating
(passive) antenna is less than with one of the active antennas
because of the smaller field enhancement in front of the elec-
trodes. The voltage drop in front of each electrode is only
approximately half in comparison with the voltage drop in
front of one electrode with an active antenna.
Finally, it has to be taken into account that Xe 2x -excimer
radiation at 172nm is presumably generated by the pre-dis-
charge within the inner bulb which may promote lamp igni-
tion. Details on the properties of DBDs can be found in [32]
and of corona discharge in [52]. The interpretation given
above was already in part anticipated in [18] on the basis of
high-speed photos, which are unpublished up to now.
For the measurements in section3.1.3, we used only active
antennas on high voltage potential to have the optimal reduc-
tion of the ignition voltage concerning antenna potential.
3.1.3.Influence of antenna width on the ignition voltage in
case of an evacuated outer bulb. Figure 7 presents at first
the ignition voltage as cumulative frequency distribution
for different antenna widths but equal antenna thickness of
9
A Bergner et al
20
18 without antenna
with antenna (fit)
/ kV
16 with antenna (measured)
ign,mean
14
12
U
10
8
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
R/R
0
Figure 8. Mean ignition voltage in dependence on the relative
resistance of the antenna. R0 is the resistance of the 4mm antenna.
200 nm. Results of a 2 mm, 3 mm, 4 mm, and a so-called
360 antenna, which envelopes the whole bulb, are compared
with the reference lamp without an antenna, respectively. The
main reduction is achieved if any antenna at all is applied. The
mean ignition voltage with the 2 mm antenna is reduced by
5 to 14.2kV in comparison with the reference lamp. However,
the measuring values are still quite heavily scattered. They
fluctuate in a range of about 5kV. With the 3mm antenna the
mean ignition voltage is reduced to 12.6kV and the scattering
is much lower. The variation of the measuring values is in a
range of about 1kV. With the 4mm antenna the mean ignition
voltage is further reduced to 11.9kV. The values fluctuate in a
range of about 1.8kV. A possible reason for this is a scattering
of the lamp properties and not the antenna itself. With the 360
antenna the mean ignition voltage is finally reduced to 10.4kV
with a scattering of the measuring values in the range of 1kV.
The ignition voltages given in figure7 are measured with
antennas of different width but otherwise equal parameters.
Assuming that the resistance of the 4mm antenna is R0, the
4
resistance of the 3mm antenna is R = R 0, that of the 2mm
3 R
antenna R=2R0 and that of the 360 antenna R = 0 , taking
into account that diameter of the lamp tube is 4mm. The cor-
responding average ignition voltage Uign,mean(R) amounts to
11.9 kV, 12.6 kV, 14.2 kV and 10.3 kV, respectively. Their
plot in figure 8 shows that they fit very well a straight line.
R
Its extrapolation to = 0 yields a mean ignition voltage
R0
Uign,mean(0)=9.7kV, which may be the intrinsic mean igni-
tion voltage of the inner bulb (antenna resistance R = 0). It
increases with the slew rate of the applied voltage and depends
on the design of the lamp and the ignition aid. If this applies,
the difference Uign,mean(R)Uign,mean(0) represents the mean
voltage drop along the antenna Uant,mean. With rising resist-
ance of the antenna the increase of Uign,mean(R) becomes pre-
R
sumably less than linear and may approach for the
R0
ignition voltage without antenna [24].
The voltage drop along the antenna may be estimated taking
into account the initial conditions of the applied voltage U(t),
dU
U(t = 0) = 0, = 0 (see figure 3(b)). The antenna is
dt t = 0
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 025201
described for this estimate by a simple circuit, consisting of
an antenna resistance R and a capacity between the antenna
and the adverse electrode C. The inductance of the circuit L
is neglected. For this simple model the voltage drop can be
expressed by
t
=t
dU d2U
 Uant,mean = RC
dt
RC d 2
exp d .
RC (1)
=0
RC is the time constant of the circuit which may be estimated
with values of R and C given below. Contributions propor-
d2U
tional to may be neglected as long as the rise of the
d 2 dU
instantly applied voltage at time t is more or less constant
dt d2U
and the time interval between t and , at which 0, is
d 2
longer than the time constant RC. This is the case several ten
nanoseconds before lamp ignition if RC20ns is assumed
d2U
since 2 differs distinctly from zero only at the start up of
d dU
the ignition pulse (see figure 3(b)). If this is the case C
dt
represents the current within the antenna.
A resistance R0 of the 4 mm antenna is estimated of the
order of 80 k, in accordance with the finding in [24], if a
capacity of C0.25pF is assumed according to a FEM simu-
lation of the electrostatic field within the lamp before igni-
tion. But the estimate is quite doubtful, since the model of
the antenna circuit is presumably oversimplified and C is not
well known. On the other hand, a calculation of the DC resist-
ance of the 4 mm antenna, made of Ti, according to R =
l/A, with (Ti)=4.66107m [53], l=4.7102m and
A=8 1010m2, yields RDC=27. This is, without doubt,
some orders of magnitude lower than the real resistance of
the antenna, indicating that the specific resistance of the sput-
tered Ti-layer is heavily increased resulting from a mixture
of amorphous and crystalline states [48]. The measurements
and their discussion show that the difference between the
measured ignition voltage and the intrinsic ignition voltage is
mainly generated by the ohmic voltage drop across the active
antenna. The finding is confirmed by measurements of the
ignition voltage in dependence on the antenna thickness and
on material properties given in the appendix A.
3.2. Antennas with outer-bulb DBD
After presenting the influence of different antennas as an igni-
tion aid for automotive HID lamps with an evacuated outer
bulb, this sectionshows the influence of an outer-bulb DBD
[1, 4] in combination with active and passive antennas on
the ignition voltage. The same parameter variations are per-
formed to investigate the combined effect as for the investi-
gation of the single antenna effect. The outer-bulb pressure
is set to pouter=100mbar Ar for all measurements described
subsequently. 100 mbar is a typical pressure for outer-bulb
discharges in commercial lamps. With an outer-bulb discharge
alone a minimum ignition voltage was achieved with an Ar
filling at a pressure of 3mbar [1]. In case of a DBD present
in the outer bulb in combination with an active antenna, the
current transferred by the ignition aid increases and the slew
10
A Bergner et al
rate of the applied voltage decreases at low pressures of some
mbar. At these conditions an ignition within the inner bulb
becomes questionable. Therefore, the reduction of the outer-
bulb pressure is limited.
3.2.1.High-speed photography with outer-bulb DBD. At
first, the influence of the antenna potential on the ignition
process is considered with an antenna in combination with an
outer-bulb discharge. Figure 9 shows a set of four consecu-
tive ICCD images for an antenna on high voltage potential
taken from the lamp connector on the right hand side in com-
bination with an outer-bulb discharge. The exposure time is
texp=10ns, while the inter-frame time is td,inter=5ns. The
DBD ignites in the whole outer-bulb volume, but it is more
intense in the cathode region (left) than in the anode region
(right). As in the case without outer-bulb discharge, a pre-dis-
charge in the inner bulb around the cathode is visible where
the electric field is enhanced by the antenna. In the second
image the outer-bulb discharge becomes more intense and a
corona discharge is additionally formed at the anode tip in
the inner bulb as already seen in the case without outer-bulb
discharge. The pre-discharges at anode and cathode are start-
ing points for streamer propagation from the cathode pinch
to the anode tip along the inner wall of the tube. With further
increasing voltage, as shown in the third image, some dis-
charge channels are closed. In the fourth image many closed
streamer channels are shown which are distributed over the
whole surface of the inner bulb. This is a significant difference
between the high voltage antenna with and without outer-bulb
DBD. As discussed in the introduction, the conductivity of the
outer-bulb discharge is an important criterion for the efficacy
of the outer-bulb discharge. In contrast to the antenna alone,
the outer-bulb discharge forms a rather homogeneous conduc-
tivity around the inner bulb. This leads to more starting points
for streamers around the electrodes in the inner bulb improv-
ing the breakdown probability. The streamers do not exclu-
sively propagate along the antenna anymore (see figure 3),
but they also propagate along the upper wall of the inner
bulb where a transient plasma antenna is formed by the free-
electron density within the outer-bulb discharge. Thereby, the
ignition voltage of the lamp is further reduced. It amounts to
Uign=10.7kV which is more than 1kV lower than without
outer-bulb discharge. A detailed discussion of the influence of
the antenna potential on the ignition voltage for antennas in
combination with outer-bulb DBDs is given in the next sec-
tion(see figure13).
In figure 10, the results for an antenna on grounded
potential taken from the lamp connector on the left hand
side in combination with an outer-bulb discharge is shown.
The exposure time is texp = 10 ns, while the inter-frame
time is td,inter = 10 ns. As in the former case, at first the
outer-bulb discharge is ignited. A significant difference
is the location of the DBD around the anode region.
Moreover, it is much more constricted than in the case of
the high voltage antenna. The plasma is predominately
located in the anode region of the outer bulb and becomes
more and more constricted from the anode side of the outer
bulb towards the cathode. The second ICCD image still
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 025201
Figure 9.(a) Four consecutive ICCD images (texp=10ns, td,inter=5ns) and (b) corresponding electrical measurements of ignition with
antenna on high voltage potential and pouter=100mbar Ar. The antenna, electrically connected with the right hand side lamp electrode, is
made from Ti, the thickness is 200nm and the width 4mm.
shows the outer-bulb discharge and also a pre-discharge at
the anode tip as already shown for the grounded antenna
without an outer-bulb discharge (see figure 4(a)). In the
third ICCD image the outer-bulb discharge has nearly van-
ished and the beginning of streamer propagation in the
inner bulb is shown. The main streamer propagates along
the upper wall of the discharge vessel. This can be seen
even better in the fourth ICCD image where several dis-
charge channels are already closed. As in the case with
high voltage antenna and outer-bulb DBD, the streamers
are not only located on the lower surface of the inner bulb.
The final stage of the breakdown behaviour of high voltage
and grounded antenna in combination with the outer-bulb
discharge is very similar. Also in this case, the free-elec-
tron density within the outer-bulb discharge forms a tran-
sient plasma antenna which further reduces the ignition
11
A Bergner et al
voltage. It is Uign=11.4kV which is almost 1kV lower
than without an outer-bulb discharge.
As a third case, the combination of a floating antenna with
an outer-bulb discharge is considered. A series of four con-
secutive ICCD images is shown for that case in figure11. The
exposure time is texp = 10 ns, while the inter-frame time is
td,inter=1ns. The first image shows that the discharge ranges
over the whole outer-bulb volume, but it is more intense
around the cathode at the left hand side than around the anode.
A pre-discharge within the inner bulb is not clearly visible in
the first image. A very weak pre-discharge at the anode tip and
in the cathode pinch may be assumed. In the second ICCD
image, the pre-discharge in the inner bulb becomes more
pronounced. The outer-bulb DBD is still present, but the ini-
tiation of streamers from the anode tip and from the cathode
pinch is clearly visible now. These streamers become more
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 025201 A Bergner et al

Figure 10.(a) Four consecutive ICCD images (texp=10ns, td,inter=10ns) and (b) corresponding electrical measurements of ignition with
antenna on grounded potential and pouter=100mbar Ar. The antenna, electrically connected with the left hand side electrode, is made from
Ti, the thickness is 200nm and the width 4mm.

pronounced in the third picture, while the outer-bulb DBD while the green represents the same lamp, but with an outer-
is no longer visible. The streamers begin to propagate along bulb filling of 100 mbar Ar. The red curve represents the
the upper and the lower wall of the inner bulb starting from standard antenna configuration (Ti, thickness 200 nm, width
anode tip and cathode pinch. In the fourth ICCD image these 4mm). The antenna is on high voltage potential and the outer
streamers meet in the middle of the discharge vessel and form bulb is evacuated. The cyan curve shows the combination of
closed channels. Some further discharge channels additionally antenna and outer-bulb DBD, i.e. it is the same lamp as for the
occur in the image. At that moment the breakdown is nearly red curve, but now the outer bulb is filled with 100mbar Ar.
carried out. The ignition voltage is Uign=14.3kV which is The mean value of the ignition voltage is clearly reduced by the
rather high for that configuration (see figure 13). It can be outer-bulb DBD. It is about 13.9kV in comparison with 19kV
stated that a further reduction by the combination of a floating
of the reference lamp without any ignition aid. The reduction
antenna and outer-bulb discharge is not achieved. This will be becomes more pronounced by an active antenna (11.9kV) as
discussed in the next sectionin more detail. already discussed above. For both cases, the outer-bulb DBD
and the active antenna, the scattering of the measured values is
3.2.2. Electrical measurements with outer-bulb DBD. Figure in a range of about 2kV. By applying an active antenna in com-
12 gives an overview of the different ignition aids. The blue bination with an outer-bulb DBD, the reduction of the ignition
curve represents the reference lamp with evacuated outer-bulb, voltage is highest. It is reduced to 10.5kV with a very small

12
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 025201
Figure 11.(a) Four consecutive ICCD images (texp=10ns, td,inter=1ns) and (b) corresponding electrical measurements of ignition with
antenna on floating potential and pouter=100mbar Ar. The antennas are made from Ti, the thickness is 200nm and the width 4mm.
scattering of less than 1kV which is comparable with the igni-
tion voltage of the 360 antenna. Therefore, a synergistic effect
of active antenna and DBD is observed. This effect shall be
considered for the same parameters of the antenna as without
an outer-bulb DBD in the previous chapter.
Figure 13 shows the ignition voltage in dependence on the
antenna potential with 100mbar Ar in the outer bulb. The ref-
erence case (hereafter denoted as ref 2) is the lamp without
an antenna, but with an outer-bulb DBD as already presented
in figure12. A floating antenna in combination with an outer-
bulb DBD does not yield an additional reduction of the ignition
voltage. The distributions of the measured values are nearly
equal. The distribution of the measuring values of the lamp
with floating antenna but without outer-bulb DBD is similar to
these results (see figure6). In other words, a floating antenna
in vacuum or in 100mbar Ar has nearly the same effect as the
outer-bulb DBD in 100mbar Ar without antenna. As already
13
A Bergner et al
mentioned, an active antenna in combination with an outer-
bulb DBD yields a further reduction of the ignition voltage.
The mean ignition voltage with the grounded antenna is about
11.2 kV which is slightly higher than with a high voltage
antenna (10.5 kV) as shown in figure 13. Scattering of the
measuring values is nearly the same in both cases. It is much
less than without outer-bulb discharge in case of the grounded
artenna. Approximately it amounts to 1kV. The reason of the
small difference between high voltage and grounded antenna
is presumably the same as in the case without outer-bulb DBD.
A DBD between the cathode and the antenna tip applies to the
wall in front of the cathode pinch a negative surface charge
which favours the development of a surface streamer from the
cathode pinch towards anode.
In a next step, the geometry of the antennas made from Ti
is addressed for lamps with an outer-bulb DBD. In figure14
the lamp ignition voltage Uign is shown for different antenna
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 025201 A Bergner et al

0.995 0.995
0.99 0.99
0.95 0.95
0.9 0.9
0.75 0.75
probability

probability
0.5 0.5
0.25 0.25
ref 2
0.1 ref 0.1 2 mm
0.05 0.05
100 mbar Ar 3 mm
0.01 HV antenna 0.01 4 mm
0.005 combination 0.005 360
10 12 14 16 18 20 22 9 11 13 15 17 19 21
Uign,lamp / kV Uign / kV

Figure 12. Probability plot for the cumulative frequency
distribution of the lamp ignition voltage Uign for different ignition
aids (outer-bulb DBD, active antenna and the combination of both).
The antennas are made from Ti, the thickness is 200nm and the
width 4mm.
Figure 14. Probability plot for the cumulative frequency
distribution of the lamp ignition voltage Uign for different antennas
widths. The antennas made of Ti have high voltage potential and the
thickness is 4mm. The outer bulb is filled with 100mbar Ar.

showing the reduction of the ignition voltage by an additional

outer-bulb discharge.
0.995
0.99
4.Conclusion
0.95
0.9
Investigations of the outer-bulb DBD as ignition aid for auto-
0.75
probability

0.5
0.25
0.1 ref 2
0.05
float
0.01 GND
0.005 HV
10 12 14 16 18 20
Uign / kV
Figure 13. Probability plot for the cumulative frequency
distribution of the lamp ignition voltage Uign with different antenna
potential. The antenna is made from Ti, has a thickness of 200nm
and a width of 4mm. The outer-bulb is filled with 100mbar Ar.
widths in combination with an outer-bulb DBD (100mbar Ar).
The mean ignition voltage decreases with increasing antenna
width. The reduction with the 2mm antenna is approximately
1kV and the scattering is comparable to the reference lamp
without antenna. By applying the 3 mm antenna, the mean
ignition voltage is reduced to 11.3kV and the scattering is sig-
nificantly lower than 1kV. With the 4mm antenna the mean
ignition voltage is further reduced, but only a few hundred
volts more than with the 3mm antenna, to 10.5kV. The fur-
ther reduction of the ignition voltage by the outer-bulb DBD
is about 1.5kV (see figure7). The combination of the 360
antenna without outer-bulb DBD causes only a reduction of
the ignition voltage by 0.3 to 10.1kV (see figure7). This small
reduction is presumably a result of the reduced slew rate of the
applied voltage if the DBD is ignited in the outer bulb. In the
appendix A further examples for antennas of different thick-
ness and antennas consisting of different materials are given,
motive HID lamps have recently shown that the DBD generates
a conductivity in the outer-bulb volume, by which an enhance-
ment of the electric field near the electrodes is induced. Thus,
the working principle of the outer-bulb DBD is similar to that
of an antenna [1] which is the conventional method to enhance
the electric field in the vicinity of the electrodes. In the first part
of this paper, antennas have been addressed as an ignition aid
22
for automotive HID lamps. Different potentials and antenna
widths were investigated. Furthermore, the synergistic effect of
an antenna in combination with an outer-bulb DBD was con-
sidered at an outer-bulb pressure of 100mbar Ar.
The measurements clearly show the reduction of the igni-
tion voltage of automotive HID lamps by antennas as an igni-
tion aid. By using antennas without outer-bulb DBD the mean
ignition voltage is reduced from 19kV down to 10.4kV for
a 360 antenna. This was achieved with an antenna on high
voltage potential. However, the reduction with the grounded
antenna is only marginally less. The floating (passive) antenna
brings the ignition voltage to approximately 14 kV. For the
three different antenna potentials, high-speed photography
was applied. It was shown that streamers always propagate
independently from the antenna potential along the lower
burner wall where the antenna is positioned. Furthermore, the
streamers' origin is mostly the anode tip and the cathode pinch
if an active antenna on positive high voltage potential or a
floating antenna is applied.
The measurements of the ignition voltage in dependence of
the antenna width have shown a linear reduction of the ignition
voltage with increasing width, corresponding to a decreasing
resistance of the antenna. An extrapolation to R=0 delivered
a threshold value between 910kV, which may be interpreted
as the intrinsic ignition voltage of the special lamp-antenna

14
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 025201
configuration and the slew rate of the applied voltage. The
ignition voltage converges to this threshold value whenever
the conductance of the antenna is increased.
The combination of antennas with an outer-bulb DBD in
100 mbar Ar shows a synergistic effect of the two ignition
aids. The ignition voltage can be reduced by a higher amount
with the combination of both ignition aids than with only one
of them. The combination of antenna and DBD results obvi-
ously in an increased electrical conductance of the ignition
aid. However, the synergistic effect was only found for active
antennas. The floating (passive) antenna in combination with
the outer-bulb DBD does not lower the ignition voltage fur-
ther than the floating antenna or the outer-bulb DBD alone.
A reason might be that the DBD represents also a floating
antenna. The two voltage drops over the quartz tube between
the electrodes and the antenna or DBD remain quite high.
Thus, the potential of the floating antenna or DBD is roughly
half of the supplied voltage [31]. The analog effect of DBD
and floating antenna confirms that the outer-bulb DBD pre-
dominately acts as transient plasma antenna [1] and at most
additionally as a source of UV radiation, by which photo elec-
trons within the inner bulb are produced.
The combination of active antennas with an outer-bulb dis-
charge reduces the ignition voltage of the lamp the most. In
the best case, the ignition voltage is less than 10kV which is
a reduction of about 50% compared with the reference lamp
without any ignition aid (see figure12). The DBD generates a
free-electron density in the outer bulb. It seems to induce more
surface streamers [2] than only an active antenna does. High-
speed photos show that streamers propagate along the wall in
every part of the inner bulb, which is the main difference to the
configuration without outer-bulb DBD. In that case, the wall
streamers are predominately located in the lower half of the
inner bulb above the antenna. If an outer-bulb DBD is addi-
tionally ignited, the localization of the streamers in the lower
half of the inner bulb disappears and the streamers are dis-
tributed over the whole inner bulb. This means that the DBD
extends the antenna potential over the whole surface of the
inner bulb without impeding the light emission of the lamp.
There are still several open questions. One question con-
cerns the antenna life time, which is related to the choice of an
appropriate technique to attach antennas onto the inner bulb of
the lamp and of the antenna material, which has to withstand
the high operating temperature of the lamp. Another one con-
cerns the minimization of the ohmic resistance of the antenna.
The third one concerns an optimized combination of antenna
geometry and filling-gas pressure within the outer bulb, at
which the ignition voltage reaches a minimum. A fourth,
more general question concerns the possibility of a further
reduction of the ignition voltage, e.g. by applying a double
pulse, consisting of a positive and negative half cycle, already
applied in [18]. Finally, the physics behind lamp ignition and
its modification by ignition aids raise interesting questions.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support
from the CATRENE SEEL project (CA502), from the
15
A Bergner et al
Bundesministerium fr Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)
within the project SEEL (Solutions for Energy Efficient
Lighting, FKZ: 13N11265/16N11265), from the DFG within
the Sonderforschungsbereich SFB-TR87 and from the proj-
ect WFBO 009 Ausbau des Bochumer Kompetenzschwer-
punkts Eingebettete Systeme und IT-Sicherheit from which
the ICCD camera was financed. Furthermore, we would like
to thank all project partners, especially U Hechtfischer and
G Tochadse, Philips Lighting, for valuable discussions during
the last years, and for supplying the test lamps.
Appendix A. Effects of antenna thickness, material
and outer-bulb discharge
Initially, the effect of film thickness of a Ti antenna without
outer-bulb discharge is considered. We show in figure A1
results for antennas with a width of 4mm and thicknesses of
50nm, 100nm, 200nm and 400nm and for comparison the
results for the reference lamp without antenna. The antennas
are all on high voltage potential. The strongest decrease of
the mean ignition voltage is observed between the lamp with
a 50nm antenna and the reference lamp. The mean ignition
voltage is about 14kV which in that case is a reduction of
5 kV compared with the reference lamp. The scattering of
the measuring values is in a 3.5kV range. A further reduc-
tion of the mean ignition voltage of 2kV to roughly 12kV
is achieved with the 100nm, 200nm and 400nm antennas.
The scattering of measuring values is also reduced to a 2kV-
range for these configurations. The differences of ignition
voltages between these three antennas are only marginal. The
maximum reduction already seems to be achieved with the
100 nm antenna which has the lowest cross section of the
three. A further increase of the thickness does not result in
a further reduced ignition voltage. The missing influence of
the antenna thickness above a thickness of 100 nm on the
ignition voltage cannot be an outcome of the skin effect. The
skin depth is for metallic Ti and frequencies f of the order
of 10MHz, corresponding to the rise of the applied voltage
pulse U(t), of the order of 100 m. The skin depth skin is
for metals with a lower resistivity and f = 10 MHz still of
the order of the several ten micrometers and not comparable
with the antenna thickness. Therefore, the skin effect is not an
appropriate explanation.
Figure A2 presents the lamp ignition voltage for different
antenna thicknesses with 100mbar Ar in the outer bulb. The
reference case (ref 2) is the lamp without an antenna but with
an outer-bulb DBD as already presented in figures 1214.
The mean ignition voltage decreases by 1 to 13kV with the
50nm antenna. It decreases by 2 to 12kV with the 100nm
antenna, which means that the additional effect of the outer-
bulb discharge is insignificant for the special antenna thick-
ness (see figure A1). But the scattering of the measuring
values is reduced in comparison with the measurements
without an outer-bulb discharge approximately to 1kV. The
200 nm and 400 nm antennas have nearly the same mean
ignition voltage of about 10.5kV and 10.6kV, respectively.
The difference between the highest and the lowest ignition
voltage is only a few hundred volts. For an antenna thickness
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 025201 A Bergner et al

0.995 0.995
0.99 0.99
0.95 0.95
0.9 0.9
0.75 0.75
probability

probability
0.5 0.5
ref
0.25 0.25 Ti
ref TiN
0.1 50 nm 0.1 Cu
0.05 0.05
100 nm Al
0.01 200 nm 0.01 Ni
0.005 400 nm 0.005 Fe
10 12 14 16 18 20 22 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
Uign / kV Uign / kV

Figure A1. Probability plot for the cumulative frequency Figure A3. Probability plot for the cumulative frequency
distribution of the lamp ignition voltage Uign for different antenna distribution of the lamp ignition voltage Uign for different antenna
thicknesses. The antennas have high voltage potential, are made of materials. The antenna has high voltage potential, the thickness is
Ti and have a width of 4mm. The outer bulb is evacuated. 200nm and the width 4mm. The outer bulb is evacuated.

0.995 0.995
0.99 0.99
0.95 0.95
0.9 0.9
0.75 0.75
probability

probability

ref 2
0.5 0.5 Ti
TiO2
0.25 0.25
ref 2 TiN
0.1 50 nm 0.1 Cu
0.05 0.05
100 nm Al
0.01 200 nm 0.01 Ni
0.005 400 nm 0.005 Fe
10 12 14 16 18 20 22 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Uign /kV Uign / kV

Figure A2. Probability plot for the cumulative frequency Figure A4. Probability plot for the cumulative frequency distribution
distribution of the lamp ignition voltage Uign for different antenna of the lamp ignition voltage Uign for different antenna materials. The
thicknesses. The antennas made of Ti have high voltage potential antenna has high voltage potential, the thickness is 200nm and the
and the width is 4mm. The outer bulb is filled with 100mbar Ar. width 4mm. The outer bulb is filled with 100mbar Ar.

larger than 200 nm a saturation effect occurs similar to the
results without outer-bulb discharge (see figure A1). A fur-
ther increase of antenna thickness does not further decrease
the ignition voltage of the lamp. However, without outer-
bulb DBD the saturation effect is already present at 100nm
antenna thickness (see figure A1). Although an explanation
by the a skin effect can be excluded, the results indicate that
the electric conductance of the sputtered antennas is not
simply proportional to the film thickness. Nevertheless, they
confirm a decreasing ignition voltage, if the ohmic resistance
of the antenna is reduced.
Figure A3 presents the ignition voltage as cumulative fre-
quency distribution for different antenna materials, namely
Ti, TiN, Cu, Al, Ni and Fe, at first without an outer-bulb
discharge. The results for the reference lamp, also shown
in the figure, are the same measuring values as in figure6.
All antennas have a thickness of 200 nm and a width of
4 mm. Therefore, only the influence of the antenna mate-
rial is studied. It has to be stated that the antenna thickness
fluctuates in the range of about 10 nm, which equals 5%
-variation in film thickness.
As expected, the reference lamp has the highest mean
ignition voltage of 19kV. The lamp with the TiN-antenna has
a mean ignition voltage of about 15kV and the scattering is
also reduced to a 2kV-range. TiN is a conductive material,
but the conductivity is much lower than the conductivity of
pure metals like Ti. With antennas made from pure metals
(Ti, Cu, Al, Ni and Fe), the mean ignition voltage is further
reduced to values between 11kV and 12kV. The electrical
conductivity of these materials is quite high. The scat-
tering of the ignition voltages for the pure metal antennas
are comparable. It is in the range of about 2 kV. The dif-
ferences between the antennas made from pure metals are
quite small and should not be overestimated because the
properties of the sputtered films are different from those of
crystalline bulk material. Furthermore, the antenna thick-
ness fluctuates by means of the different sputter processes.
As already mentioned, a reliable determination of the

16
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48 (2015) 025201
antenna thickness on an ellipsoidally shaped HID lamp is
hardly possible.
As the last item in this section, in figure A4 the ignition
voltage of the lamps are shown for different antenna materials
(Ti, TiN, TiO2, Cu, Al, Ni and Fe) with 100mbar Ar in the
outer bulb. Generally, there are two groups of antenna mate-
rials. TiN and TiO2 belong to the group which shows nearly
the same results as the reference lamp without antenna but
with an outer-bulb DBD. The distributions of the reference
lamp and the lamp with the TiO2 antenna are quite similar.
The mean ignition voltage amounts to 14kV. The lamp with
the TiN antenna shows a slightly lower mean ignition voltage
of about 13.4 kV and less scattering which is in the range
of 1 kV. The reduction with respect to a TiN antenna in an
evacuated outer bulb is 1.6kV. The lamps with pure metallic
antennas belong to the second group in this set of measure-
ments. The distributions for Ti and Fe are very similar and
have a mean ignition voltage of 10.5kV and the scattering is
less than 1kV. The other lamps with Cu, Al and Ni antennas,
respectively, have a mean ignition voltage of about 10kV and
a similar low scattering as Ti and Fe. The best candidate seems
to be Cu because of the lowest mean ignition voltage (9.8kV)
and smallest scattering. From the applications point of view,
Cu has the disadvantage of its rather low melting temperature
of about 1360K.
From an experimental point of view, we used Ti as mate-
rial for the variation of the antenna geometry because it has the
highest melting temperature (1941K) of the investigated mate-
rials. It is an ignition aid candidate for hot restrike which shall be
investigated for this kind of lamp in future work. Just recently,
Ti antennas were successfully used as an ignition aid for 70W
ceramic metal halide lamps [18]. But Ni could be another can-
didate for an investigation of the hot restrike of automotive HID
lamps because the melting temperature is 1728K.
By combining an antenna consisting of an electrically high
conducting material with an outer bulb discharge, the igni-
tion voltage of the lamp can be lowered to a value which
approaches the intrinsic ignition voltage of the special lamp
antenna configuration. The results given in the appendix may
be useful for a development of more appropriate ignition aids.
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