Floating potential in electronegative plasmas for non-zero ion temperatures

Abstract

The floating potential of a Langmuir probe immersed in an electronegative plasma is studied theoretically under the assumption of radial positive ion fluid movement for non-zero positive ion temperature: both cylindrical and spherical geometries are studied. The model is solvable exactly. The special characteristics of the electronegative pre-sheath are found and the influence of the stratified electronegative pre-sheath is shown to be very small in practical applications. It is suggested that the use of the floating potential in the measurement of negative ions population density is convenient, in view of the numerical results obtained. The differences between the two radial geometries, which become very important for small probe radii of the order of magnitude of the Debye length, are studied.