Electron attachment kinetics coupled to electron thermalization in SF6/Ar mixtures

Abstract

The relaxation of a nonequilibrium distribution of electrons in a mixture of SF6 and Ar is studied. In this paper, electron-SF6 and electron-inert gas elastic collisions, vibrationally inelastic collisions between electrons and SF6, as well as the electron attachment reaction with SF6 are included in the analysis. The time-dependent electron energy distribution function is determined from the Boltzmann equation and the energy relaxation times are determined. The coupling of the thermalization process and the attachment process are discussed in detail. The results from the calculations (for 300 K and a total pressure of 1 Torr) are analysed analogous to experimental studies, and the methodology of the experimental reduction of the data is studied.

Time evolution of electron distributions to bimodal steady states for electrons dilutely dispersed in theinert gases Ar, Kr, and Xe with deep Ramsauer Townsend minima in themomentum transfer cross section

“…The transient negative mobility of electrons in xenon [17][18][19] and other systems [20][21][22] as well as the negative differential conductivity of electrons in He-Xe and He-Kr mixtures [23][24][25] as well as in Xe/Cs mixtures [26] are notable effects. There are also numerous important applications in diverse fields such as in astrophysical gases [27], as well as electron attachment to molecular gases such as SF 6 and CCl 4 [28][29][30].…”