Electron and ion mobilities in argon plasma with fluorine as additive

Abstract

Results of the numerical evaluation of the electron and ion mobilities in plasmas from mixtures of argon and fluorine are given. The temperature dependence of the number densities of the components and their mobilities as a function of temperature for low-pressure (from 0.1 kPa to 1.0 kPa) and low-temperature (from 500 K to 5000 K) argon plasmas with 20% and 30% of added fluorine are evaluated. It is assumed that the system is kept under constant pressure and that a corresponding state of local themodynamical equilibrium is attained in it. The previously derived expression for the modified Debye radius, offering the possibility to treat the plasmas as weakly non-ideal in the whole temperature range, is used and the cut-off at the Landau length rather than at the smallest ionic radius is introduced. This alteration in the evaluation procedure gives different changes in the final numerical results for all the relevant quantities. It was found that the equilibrium plasma composition depends considerably on the presence of fluorine in the whole temperature range for both the pressures; the addition of fluorine significantly enhances the number densities of all relevant charged constituents. This fact influences the electron and ion collision frequencies as well as their mobilities.