The discharge characteristics of Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge (SDBD) reactor are investigated to find optimal driving condition with adjusting various parameter. When the high voltage with sine wave form is applied to SDBD source, successive pulsed current waveforms are observed owing to multiple ignitions through the long discharge channel and wall charge accumulation on the dielectric surface. The discharge voltage, total charge between dielectrics, mean energy and power are calculated from measured current and voltage according to electrode gap and dielectric thickness. Discharge mode transition from filamentary to diffusive glow is observed for narrow gap and high applied voltage case. However, when the diffusive discharge is occurred with high applied voltage, the actual firing voltage is always lower than that with low driving voltage. The $Si_3N_4$, $MgF_2$, $Al_2O_3$ and $TiO_2$ are considered for dielectric protection and high secondary electron emission coefficient. SDBD with $MgF_2$ shows the lowest breakdown voltage. $MgF_2$ thin film is proposed as a protection layer for low voltage atmospheric dielectric barrier discharge devices.