Conventional plasma electrolytic oxidation treatments produce oxide coatings with micron-scale discharge pores, resulting in insulation and wear and corrosion resistance far below that expected of highly dense Al 2O 3 coatings. The introduction of cathodic polarization during the plasma electrolytic oxidation process, especially when the applied cathode-to-anode current ratio (Rpn) is greater than 1, triggers a unique plasma discharge phenomenon known as “soft sparking”. The soft spark discharge mode significantly improves the densification of the anode ceramic layer and facilitates the formation of the high-temperature α-Al 2O 3 phase within the coating. Although the soft spark discharge phenomenon has been known for a long time, the growth behavior of the coating under its discharge mode still needs to be studied and improved. In this paper, the growth behavior of the coating before and after soft spark discharge is investigated with the help of the micro-morphology, phase composition and element distribution of a homemade fixture. The results show that the ceramic layer grows mainly along the oxide–electrolyte direction before the soft spark discharge transformation; after the soft spark discharge, the ceramic layer grows along the oxide–substrate direction. It was also unexpectedly found that, under soft spark discharge, the silicon element only exists on the outside of the coating, which is caused by the large size and slow migration of SiO 3 2−, which can only enter the ceramic layer and participate in the reaction through the discharge channel generated by the strong discharge. In addition, it was also found that the relative phase content of α-Al 2O 3 in the coating increased from 0.487 to 0.634 after 10 min of rotary spark discharge, which is an increase of 30.2% compared with that before the soft spark discharge transition. On the other hand, the relative phase content of α-Al 2O 3 in the coating decreased from 0.487 to 0.313 after 20 min of transfer spark discharge, which was a 55.6% decrease compared to that before the soft spark discharge transformation. Abstract Conventional plasma electrolytic oxidation treatments produce oxide coatings with micron-scale discharge pores, resulting in insulation and wear and corrosion resistance far below that expected of highly dense Al 2O 3 coatings. The introduction of cathodic polarization during the plasma electrolytic oxidation process, especially when the applied cathode-to-anode current ratio (Rpn) is greater than 1, triggers a unique plasma discharge phenomenon known as “soft sparking”. The soft spark discharge mode significantly improves the densification of the anode ceramic layer and facilitates the formation of the high-temperature α-Al 2O 3 phase within the coating. Although the soft spark discharge phenomenon has been known for a long time, the growth behavior of the coating under its discharge mode still needs to be studied and improved. In this paper, the growth behavior of the coating before and after soft spark discharge is investigated with the help of the micro-morphology, phase composition and element distribution of a homemade fixture. The results show that the ceramic layer grows mainly along the oxide–electrolyte direction before the soft spark discharge transformation; after the soft spark discharge, the ceramic layer grows along the oxide–substrate direction. It was also unexpectedly found that, under soft spark discharge, the silicon element only exists on the outside of the coating, which is caused by the large size and slow migration of SiO 3 2−, which can only enter the ceramic layer and participate in the reaction through the discharge channel generated by the strong discharge. In addition, it was also found that the relative phase content of α-Al 2O 3 in the coating increased from 0.487 to 0.634 after 10 min of rotary spark discharge, which is an increase of 30.2% compared with that before the soft spark discharge transition. On the other hand, the relative phase content of α-Al 2O 3 in the coating decreased from 0.487 to 0.313 after 20 min of transfer spark discharge, which was a 55.6% decrease compared to that before the soft spark discharge transformation. Keywords: plasma electrolytic oxidation; soft spark discharge; growth direction; α-Al2O3