Current-Voltage Characteristics in a Helium-Argon Gas Mixture Glow Discharge at Low Pressure

B. Hechelef, A. Bouchikhi University of Saïda, Faculty of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering, Saïda 20000, Algeria

Received: March 24, 2018; revised version January 30, 2019; in final form October 2, 2019

Full Text PDF

In this work, the current-voltage characteristics in a 90%helium-10%argon gas mixture glow discharge at low pressure have been studied. Three pressures values are considered %are 1.5, 2, and 2.5 Torr. The range of voltage is between 150 and 500 V. The model of our system is a fluid of two ordered components, in which the metastable state of the atoms and the radiation effects are included. The parameters of particle transport and their rate coefficients strictly depend on mean electron energy, and they are calculated by using the BOLSIG+ software. The range of the mean electron energy is taken between 0.04 and 133 eV, and the electron energy distribution function is taken in non-Maxwellian form. The results show that the argon ion density is more important than the helium ion density, despite the presence of more constant background helium gas density in the mixture. The normal and abnormal glow discharge modes appear on the electric characteristics. The obtained results are compared to both experimental data and numerical results which exist in the literature.

DOI:10.12693/APhysPolA.136.855 topics: gas discharge, Boltzmann's equation, Poisson's equation, Blanc's law, two order fluid model