AVS 50th International Symposium
    Plasma Science and Technology Wednesday Sessions
       Session PS2-WeA

Paper PS2-WeA10
Two-dimensional Simulation of dc Microdischarge Phenomena

Wednesday, November 5, 2003, 5:00 pm, Room 315

Session: Atmospheric Plasmas & Micro Discharges
Presenter: P.S. Kothnur, The University of Texas at Austin
Authors: P.S. Kothnur, The University of Texas at Austin
L.L. Raja, The University of Texas at Austin
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Microdischarges have gained much attention in the plasma process community for a variety of applications. Proposed applications range from generation of intense UV radiation to maskless etching of thin films. Recently, arrays of microhollow cathode discharges are being investigated for applications such as sources of flat panel light sources or electron sources. While some estimates of properties of micro hollow cathode discharges are available, a detailed understanding of the plasma dynamics and chemistry is lacking. Further, it is not fully clear as to what conditions influence the existence of the hollow cathode effect in microdischarge geometries. This talk presents results from a self-consistent, two-dimensional computational study of the glow-like phenomena in microdischarges. The model includes a description of multi-species transport and chemistry, electric field, electron and heavy species energy distributions in the microdischarge. The talk explores conditions under which the hollow cathode effect occurs in microdischarge geometries, and presents a fundamental understanding of the overall microdischarge phenomena. Further, we explore thermal heating effects in dc microdischarges in the presence of bulk flow inside the discharge. This aspect of the study is motivated by our proposed use of microdischarges in space thruster applications.