Wall Charge and Potential from a Microscopic Point of View

Abstract

Macroscopic objects floating in an ionized gas (plasma walls) accumulate electrons more efficiently than ions because the influx of electrons outruns the influx of ions. The floating potential acquired by plasma walls is thus negative with respect to the plasma potential. Until now plasma walls are typically treated as perfect absorbers for electrons and ions, irrespective of the microphysics at the surface responsible for charge deposition and extraction. This crude description, sufficient for present day technological plasmas, will run into problems in solid-state based gas discharges where, with continuing miniaturization, the wall becomes an integral part of the plasma device and the charge transfer across it has to be modelled more precisely. The purpose of this paper is to review our work, where we questioned the perfect absorber model and initiated a microscopic description of the charge transfer across plasma walls, put it into perspective, and indicate directions for future research.

Development of Barrier Discharges: Operation Modes and Structure Formation

“…The modeling activities -under progress -consider the dominant processes in the discharge volume as well as the interactions of relevant plasma species with dielectric surfaces [20][21][22][23]. The modeling activities -under progress -consider the dominant processes in the discharge volume as well as the interactions of relevant plasma species with dielectric surfaces [20][21][22][23].…”

Towards a Particle Based Simulation of Complex Plasma Driven Nanocomposite Formation

“…Despite remarkable progress in recent years (for an overview, see [9]), many of the basic processes and, even more their complex interplay in a plasma, are still poorly understood. [6,7] and powerful theoretical and computational tools have been developed in plasma physics and many-particle theory, e.g., [11,12], the coupling of plasma [9] and surface processes [13,14] is yet far too complex to allow for a treatment based on microscopic approaches. However, until now no selfconsistent modeling of the plasma phase, the cluster growth in the plasma, the atom and cluster deposition and the processes on the surface and in the bulk of the substrate have been possible.…”

Study of thin Film Formation From Silicon‐Containing Precursors Produced by an RF Non‐Thermal Plasma Jet at Atmospheric Pressure

“…www.cpp-journal.org Further joint investigations by experiments in project B12 and modelling in project B3 are necessary to analyse in more detail the interaction of plasma and flow dynamics, the plasma chemistry of the thin-film precursors, the formation of surface charges (related to projects B10 [23] and B11 [24]) and the role of local field strengths on the structure of the deposited films. Within the field of plasma chemistry, it is intended to determine the substantial reactive molecular compounds present in the discharge by infrared absorption spectroscopy measurements together with project B2 [25].…”