Effect of positive ion density on the characteristics of the magnetized plasma sheath

Abstract

Summary form only given. Using hydrodynamic approach, a three-component plasma which consists of electrons and two species of positive ions is investigated [1-3]. The plasma is assumed to be quasi neutral and its density is . The sheath region of the plasma is embedded in an oblique magnetic filed. The positive ions are singly charged and have different masses. The effect of collision, ionization and recombination are ignored and it is assumed that the electron density distribution obey the Boltzmann relation. Assuming a phase space of three dimensional velocity coordinate system, the effect of variation of density of the second positive ion species is investigated on some characteristics of the sheath region such as the velocity and density distribution of the positive ions and density distribution of electrons. The calculated results show that increasing the density ratio of the positive ion species causes the ion velocities to decrease. Also, increasing the density ratio of the positive ion species leads to increase the electron density distribution. Finally, the obtained results are compared with the results of a plasma sheath which consists of one positive ion species.