Abstract
In this research, the electrical characteristics of glow discharge plasma were studied. Glow discharge plasma generated in a home-made DC magnetron sputtering system, and a DC-power supply of high voltage as input to the discharge electrodes were both utilized. The distance between two electrodes is 4cm. The gas used to produce plasma is argon gas which flows inside the chamber at a rate of 40 sccm. The influence of work function for different target materials (gold, copper, and silver), - 5cm in diameter and around 1mm thickness - different working pressures, and different applied voltages on electrical characteristics (discharge current, discharge potential, and Paschen’s curve) were studied. The results showed that the discharge current and potential increase by increasing the applied voltage ranging between 300-700 V. Discharge current increased as working pressure increased in the beginning, and then semi-stabilized (slight increase) starting from 1×100 mbar, while discharge potential decreased at the beginning as working pressure increased and then semi-stabilized at the same point at which discharge current stabilized. The Paschen’s curves were compared with each other. It was concluded that the lower breakdown voltage was associated with lower work function of the (Au, Cu, and Ag) cathode material. Breakdown voltages were (395, 398, and 420) for Ag, Cu and Au respectively.
Highlights
The plasma state of matter can be defined as the mixture of ions, electrons and neutral atoms which constitute a macroscopic electrically neutral medium that responds to the electric and magnetic fields in a collective manner
Result and Discussion: The electrical characteristics of discharge plasma, such as dependencies of discharge current on the applied voltage and gas working pressure inside the vacuum chamber as well as Paschen's curve, are of importance to introduce the homogeneity of the generated plasma
The results demonstrate the increase of applied voltage leads to an increase in discharge current and discharge potential
Summary
The plasma state of matter can be defined as the mixture of ions, electrons and neutral atoms which constitute a macroscopic electrically neutral medium that responds to the electric and magnetic fields in a collective manner. A particular characteristic of plasmas is the collective response to external perturbations. The long range electromagnetic forces in plasmas spread the perturbations affecting the motion of large number of charged particles. The response to the perturbations of electromagnetic fields are collective; which include massive numbers of charged particles. The multi-component plasmas constitute of a mixture of different kinds of charged particles. The dusty plasmas include charged solid Micro particles. The large mass and electric charge obtained by these dust grains introduce new properties in these physical systems [1,2,3]. The plasma glow discharge is usually obtained using DC or high frequency AC excitation inside a low-pressure gas chamber [4,5]
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