Electron Collision Cross Sections for the Cl2 Molecule from Electron Transport Coefficients

Abstract

The measured electron transport coefficients (electron drift velocity, Townsend first ionization coefficient, electron attachment coefficient, and density-normalized effective ionization coefficient) in pure Cl 2 have been analyzed to derive the currently best available electron collision cross section set of the elastic and inelastic electron collision cross sections for the Cl 2 molecule using an electron swarm study and a two-term approximation of the Boltzmann equation for energy. The electron transport coefficients calculated using the derived cross sections are consistent with the experimental data over a wide range of E / N values (ratio of the electric field E to the neutral number density N ). The present electron collision cross section set for the Cl 2 molecule is the best available so far for quantitative numerical modeling plasma discharges for processing procedures with materials containing Cl 2 molecules.