Numerical study of electrical characteristics in RF micro discharge

In this paper, a numerical study of electrical characteristics is investigated for a argon micro discharge generated by a radio- frequency excitation (13.56 MHz) at high pressure (100Torr) and low voltage (150V). The results show that the rf voltage is responsible for the increase of plasma potential. Moreover, we found that the rise of gas temperature causes a reduction of plasma density inside and outside the hole of the micro hollow cathode and also affects a decrease of plasma potential in the sheaths. In consequently the sheath´s thickness becomes wide. The evolution of electron temperature in the sheaths is affected by the temperature of the gas in the micro-reactor. The results show its growth on the sheath regions if the gas temperature increases from 300 kelvins to 500 kelvins.