Influence of the inter-electrodes distance on argon DC glow discharge characteristics

In this paper, a theoretical model for a DC glow discharge at low pressure is developed. The model allows the determination of plasma characteristics distribution. The proposed theoretical model is applied to collisional argon plasma in a reactor consisting of two plane parallel electrodes. The simulation is carried out using finite difference method. Matlab software is used to solve the partial differential equations that govern the behavior of the discharge. The simulation results are illustrated in terms of spatial distribution of electron and ion densities, potential, electric field and electron energy, for a gas pressure of 0.1Torr and DC voltage of-250V. Since geometry plays an important role in plasma technologies, it is important to investigate the scaling of plasma reactor parameters such as the distance between the reactor electrodes.