Evaluation eines Elektronendiffusionsmodelles zur Berechnung von nicht Gleichgewichts-Elektronenkonzentrationen in Induktiv gekoppelten Argonplasma für die spektrochemische Analyse

Abstract

The electron density in argon ICP discharges has been found experimentally by other investigators to be higher than that calculated from the temperature distribution and Saha equation assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). The results of the present study suggest that this non equilibrium concentration has mainly two causes: first, the kinetic energy of electrons owing to the power input of the rf field is higher than the kinetic energy of the gas particles. Second, as an effect of the extremely high gradients in the electron density and the temperature distribution, ambipolar diffusion of electrons results in a non LTE situation. With the help of the ambipolar diffusion constant and with recombination being taken into account, the electron concentration and the electron temperature in an ICP have been calculated. The so calculated electron density distributions are compared with literature values, found experimentally by other investigators. Finally a new model is proposed which explains the high ion concentration found experimentally for important analytical species.