Kinetic theory of the plasma sheath transition in a weakly ionized plasma
- 1 December 1981
- journal article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Physics of Fluids
- Vol. 24 (12), 2163-2172
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.863332
Abstract
The boundary layer of a weakly ionized rare gas discharge is treated using kinetic theory. A self‐consistent two‐scale analysis is performed and the exact presheath and sheath solutions are constructed for the following model: A plasma consisting of Boltzmann distributed electrons and singly charged atomic ions is in contact with a negative absorbing wall. The ion kinetics is dominated by charge exchange with cold neutrals (T0≪T−). The mean‐free‐path λ is constant and large compared with the electron Debye length λD. This model represents a collision‐dominated counterpart to the well known Tonks–Langmuir model of the collision‐free plasma.Keywords
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