Glow discharge simulation of argon gas based on PIC-MCC method

Gas discharge is an important phenomenon in high voltage gas insulation. A new method PIC-MCC is used here to study the glow discharge of argon gas in low pressure. A microscopic model is established in our work and numbers of charged particles were traced by particle in cell (PIC) method. Different from other PIC methods, the collisions between electron, ion and atom were also considered here and Monte Carlo method (MCC) was used to cope with the collisions. By the plane electrodes model, the formation of plasma sheath, the distribution function of electron, ionization rate, density of electron and the electric field were acquired at the pressure of 42 mTorr and temperature of 293 K. The effect of electrode voltage on the results was also discussed. The results acquired here can meet experiments well.