Fluid, particle-in-cell and hybrid models are the numerical simulation techniques commonly used for simulating low-temperature plasma discharges. Despite the complexity of plasma systems and the challenges in describing and modelling them, well-organized simulation methods can provide physical information often difficult to obtain from experiments. Simulation results can also be used to identify research guidelines, find optimum operating conditions or propose novel designs for performance improvements. In this paper, we present an overview of the principles, strengths and limitations of the three simulation models, including a brief history and the recent status of their development. The three modelling techniques are benchmarked by comparing simulation results in different plasma systems (plasma display panels, capacitively coupled plasmas and inductively coupled plasmas) with experimentally measured data. In addition, different aspects of the electron and ion kinetics in these systems are discussed based upon simulation results.

Despite the high pressure employed in plasma display panels, the energy balance of low-energy electrons is found to be dominated by inelastic collisions, and the resulting nonlocal electron kinetics plays a key role in the striation formation. Surface charge accumulation on the anode dielectric, however, is also needed for striations to form. It is the combined effect of surface charges and nonlocal electron kinetics that results in the striation formation in plasma display panel cells. Two-dimensional fluid simulations, which assume local electron kinetics, and two-dimensional particle-in-cell Monte Carlo collision simulations with a bare conducting anode show that striations do not form if either the nonlocal electron kinetics or the surface charge accumulation is not considered.

Articles you may be interested inMechanism of high luminous efficacy in plasma display panel with high secondary electron emission coefficient cathode material analyzed through three-dimensional fluid model simulation J. Appl. Phys. 110, 043303 (2011) In order to understand the discharge characteristics in an alternating current plasma display panel ͑ac PDP͒ and optimize it further, a three-dimensional fluid code ͑FL3P͒ has been developed. Using this simulator, various three-dimensional features of discharges are investigated in the sustain mode of PDP. First, the striations of wall charge are observed at both the anode and cathode side. Second, the local efficiency is obtained as a function of position. It is mainly divided into the anode region and the cathode region and highest near the anode center. Finally, the effects of various three-dimensional parameters are studied. As one of the examples showing the effect of electrode shaping, the discharge characteristics of a T-shaped electrode cell are compared with those of a conventional cell. The phosphor on barrier ribs contributes to over 44% of the total luminance, but barrier ribs themselves do not play an important role in the overall discharge efficiency. Address electrode width is not always proportional to the size of the discharge because of the wall loss of the particles to barrier ribs.

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A two-dimensional radiation transport model is coupled with a fluid simulation to incorporate the resonance radiation trapping effect in a plasma display panel cell. Compared with the conventional trapping factor approach, this model has an advantage in describing the spatial evolution of the radiative excited-state density. Compared with a Monte Carlo model, it also takes advantage of its fast computation to couple the radiation transport self-consistently with the time-dependent fluid model. The effect of the spatial evolution of the resonant excited state on the light emission is investigated for the variations of system sizes and the gas mixture ratio, and the results are compared with those of the conventional trapping factor approach. The discrepancy between the two methods increases as the gap size between the dielectrics increases, but does not change significantly for the variation of the gas mixture ratio.