Monte Carlo simulation of ion kinetics in nitrogen and oxygen plasmas under non-uniform electric field conditions

Abstract

The kinetics of N4+ and O− ions was numerically studied in nitrogen and oxygen plasmas in a highly non-uniform electric field. Mean ion energy and reaction rate coefficients in a background gas at pressures from 1 to 10 Torr were calculated through a Monte Carlo simulation. The ion characteristics followed the local reduced electric field at high pressures, whereas nonhydrodynamic effects leading to a nonlocal dependence of the mean ion energy and rate coefficients on the field were obtained at low pressures. As a result, the rates of N4+ ion dissociation, electron detachment from O− ions, and charge exchange in collisions between O− and O2 lagged the local field value. The non-local effect on the ion rate coefficients was more profound when the field decreased in space. We suggested a simplified method of describing ion rates in spatially varying electric fields on the basis of the Monte Carlo simulation of these rates for uniform electric field conditions and mean ion energy calculations in non-uniform fields. This method is similar to the local-mean-energy approximation utilized for describing electron swarm parameters in varying electric fields. The results of the simplified method were compared with the results of the direct Monte Carlo simulation.