Electron energy distribution function in plasma determined using numerical simulations of multiple harmonic components on Langmuir probe characteristic—Efficiency of the method

Abstract

The method proposed to determine the electron energy distribution is based on the numerical simulation of the effect induced by a sinusoidal perturbation superimposed to the direct current voltage applied to the probe. The simulation is generating a multiple harmonic components signal over the rough experimental data. Each harmonic component can be isolated by means of finite impulse response filters. Then, the second derivative is deduced from the second harmonic component using the Taylor expansion. The efficiency of the method is proved first on simple cases and second on typical Langmuir probes characteristics recorded in the expansion of a microwave plasma containing argon or nitrogen-hydrogen gas mixture. Results obtained using this method are compared to those, which are determined using a classical Savitzsky-Golay filter.