Coupled Solutions of Boltzmann Equation, Vibrational and Electronic Nonequilibrium Kinetics

Abstract

To understand many properties of molecular plasmas widely used these days in advanced technologies (lasers, plasma etching and deposition, negative ion production) the nonequilibrium plasma kinetics is of paramount importance. In the active medium, the different species are affected by processes involving electrons and heavy particles (atoms, molecules and ions in ground and excited states). In these conditions plasma modeling requires a self consistent solution of the Boltzmann equation (electron kinetics) together with the vibrational and electronic master equations (heavy component kinetics). Although the coupling between Boltzmann equation (BE) and vibrational kinetics has been in common use (Capitelli, 1986; Boeuf and Kunhardt, 1986; Loureiro and Ferreira, 1986; Gorse et al., 1986) only recently has self consistent coupling been extended to account for the electronic kinetics too (Bretagne et al., 1987; Gorse et al., 1988; Gorse and Capitelli, 1987; Gorse and Capitelli, 1988).