IUVSTA 15th International Vacuum Congress (IVC-15), AVS 48th International Symposium (AVS-48), 11th International Conference on Solid Surfaces (ICSS-11)
    Plasma Science Tuesday Sessions
       Session PS-TuP

Paper PS-TuP12
Neutral Gas Pressure and Flow in High Density Plasmas

Tuesday, October 30, 2001, 5:30 pm, Room 134/135

Session: Plasma Deposition, Modeling, and Emerging Applications Poster Session
Presenter: M.A. Nierode, University of California at Berkeley
Authors: M.A. Nierode, University of California at Berkeley
D.B. Graves, University of California at Berkeley
Correspondent: Click to Email
The charged species in high density plasmas often couple with the transport processes occurring in the neutral gas. The charged species in the plasma exchange mass, momentum and energy with the neutral species, and under some conditions this can have a profound impact on the neutral processes. We present model results of a neutral gas interacting with a high density plasma. Conservation equations for the neutral species are solved, decoupled from a plasma model, so that the plasma influences the neutral species as specified source terms in the appropriate neutral transport equations. We have included plasma heating, dissociation, and momentum exchange, with the assumed model of a diatomic neutral gas. In particular, we present results for the case of a plasma filling a tube through which a neutral gas flows. Plasma heating and molecular dissociation can have a significant effect on the gas mass-averaged velocity and therefore on the pressure drop in the tube. Depending on how the gas is introduced and pumped, the net effects may differ. In geometries in which gas flow can bypass the region of intense plasma, the effects can be very different. Principles for analyzing various cases are presented.