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The temporal evolution of neutral gas temperature over the first 5 min of operation for an electrothermal radio-frequency micro-thruster with nitrogen (N2) propellant was measured using rovibrational band matching of the second positive N2 system. Three distinct periods of gas heating were identified with time constants of τ1 = 8 × 10−5 s, τ2 = 8 s, and τ3 = 100 s. The fast heating (τ1) is attributed to volumetric heating processes within the discharge driven by ion-neutral collisions. The slow heating (τ3) is from ion neutralization and vibrational de-excitation on the walls creating wall heating. The intermediate heating mechanism (τ2) is yet to be fully identified although some theories are suggested.

Direct measurements and modelling of neutral gas heating in a radio-frequency (13.56 MHz) electrothermal collisional plasma micro-thruster have been performed using rovibrational band matching of the second positive system of molecular nitrogen (N2) for operating pressures of 4.5 Torr down to 0.5 Torr. The temperature measured with decreasing pressure for 10 W power input ranged from 395 K to 530 K in pure N2 and from 834 K to 1090 K in argon with 1% N2. A simple analytical model was developed which describes the difference in temperatures between the argon and nitrogen discharges.

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Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of a radio-frequency (13.56 MHz) electrothermal capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) micro-thruster have been performed using the commercial CFD-ACE+ package. Standard operating conditions of a 10 W, 1.5 Torr argon discharge were used to compare with previously obtained experimental results for validation. Results show that the driving force behind plasma production within the thruster is ion-induced secondary electrons ejected from the surface of the discharge tube, accelerated through the sheath to electron temperatures up to 33.5 eV. The secondary electron coefficient was varied to determine the effect on the discharge, with results showing that full breakdown of the discharge did not occur for coefficients less than or equal to 0.01.

A spatiotemporal study of neutral gas temperature during the first 100 s of operation for a radio-frequency electrothermal plasma micro-thruster operating on nitrogen at 60 W and 1.5 Torr is performed to identify the heating mechanisms involved. Neutral gas temperature is estimated from rovibrational band fitting of the nitrogen second positive system. A set of baffles are used to restrict the optical image and separate the heating mechanisms occurring in the central bulk discharge region and near the thruster walls. For each spatial region there are three distinct gas heating mechanisms being fast heating from ion-neutral collisions with timescales of tens of milliseconds, intermediate heating with timescales of 10 s from ion bombardment on the inner thruster tube surface creating wall heating, and slow heating with timescales of 100 s from gradual warming of the entire thruster housing. The results are discussed in relation to optimizing the thermal properties of future thruster designs.

Rovibrational spectroscopy band fitting of the nitrogen (N2) second positive system is a technique used to estimate the neutral gas temperature of N2 discharges, or atomic discharges with trace amounts of a N2 added. For mixtures involving argon and N2, resonant energy transfer between argon metastable atoms (Ar*) and N2 molecules may affect gas temperature estimates made using the second positive system. The effect of Ar* resonance energy transfer is investigated here by analyzing neutral gas temperatures of argon-N2 mixtures, for N2 percentages from 1% to 100%. Neutral gas temperature estimates are higher than expected for mixtures involving greater than 5% N2 addition, but are reasonable for argon with less than 5% N2 addition when compared with an analytic model for ion-neutral charge exchange collisional heating. Additional spatiotemporal investigations into neutral gas temperature estimates with 10% N2 addition demonstrate that although absolute temperature values may be affected by Ar* resonant energy transfer, spatiotemporal trends may still be used to accurately diagnose the discharge.

High-resolution digital images of the expansion plume from an electrothermal capacitively coupled radio frequency (13.56 MHz) plasma microthruster were captured for argon and nitrogen discharges in low-and high-pressure operating regimes. The sheath near the thruster exit is clearly visible in all images, and the observed expansion plume features are consistent with previous experiments on electron density profiles within the discharge.Index Terms-Plasma applications, plasma devices.