Electron Energy and the Effective Electron Temperature of Nanosecond Pulsed Argon Plasma Studied by Global Simulations Combined with Optical Emission Spectroscopic Measurements

The behavior of argon plasma driven by nanosecond pulsed plasma in a low-pressure plasma reactor is investigated using a global model, and the results are compared with the experimental measurements. The time evolution of plasma density and the electron energy probability function are calculated by solving the energy balance and Boltzmann equations. During and shortly after the discharge pulse, the electron energy probability function can be represented by a bi-Maxwellian distribution, indicating two energy groups of electrons. According to the effective electron temperature calculation, we find that there are more high-energy electrons that play an important role in the excitation and ionization processes than low-energy electrons. The effective electron temperature is also measured via optical emission spectroscopy to evaluate the simulation model. In the comparison, the simulation results are found to be in agreement with the measurements. Furthermore, variations of the effective electron temperature are presented versus other discharge parameters, such as pulse width time, pulse rise time and gas pressure.