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Dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) are a promising technology for high-intensity sources of specific ultraviolet (UV) and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) radiation. In this work, the microdischarge dynamics in DBDs for Ne-Xe mixtures under the close conditions of excimer lamp working has been investigated. The computer model including the cathode fall, the positive column and the dielectric is composed of two coupled sub-models. The first submodel describes the electrical properties of the discharge and is based on a fluid, two-moments description of electron and ion transport coupled with Poisson's equation during the discharge pulse. The second submodel, based on three main modules: a plasma chemistry module, a circuit module and a Boltzmann equation module, with source terms deduced from the electric model, describes the time variations of charged and excited species concentrations and the UV photon emission. The use of the present description allows a good resolution near the sheath at high pressure and it predicts correctly the waveform of the discharge behaviour. The effects of operation voltage, dielectric capacitance, gas mixture composition, gas pressure, as well as the secondary electron emission by ion at the cathode on the discharge characteristics and the 173 nm photon generation have been investigated and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]