Numerical study on peak current in pulse-modulated radio-frequency discharges with atmospheric helium–oxygen admixtures

Atmospheric pressure pulse-modulated radio-frequency(rf) plasmas have drawn growing attention due to their potential in applications. By selecting appropriate modulation parameters,the diffused and large-volume plasma can be generated in the pulse-modulated rf plasma with plenty of reactive oxygen species, which is essential for the biomedical application of helium–oxygen plasmas. In this paper, by means of a fluid model, the formation of the peak current in the first period(PCFP) in a pulse-modulated rf helium–oxygen discharge driven by a sinusoidal voltage is discussed, the existence of a reverse field near the anode caused by the negative and positive charges contributes greatly to the mechanism of PCFP. In the simulation, as oxygen admixture increases, the negative ions of O~- and O~-become dominative anions in the sheath region, which can’t be driven to the anode very quickly to build a reverse field, thus the PCFP eventually disappears. This study can effectively enhance the understanding of different transportation behavior of heavy negative ions and electrons, and further optimize pulsemodulated rf discharges with helium–oxygen mixtures in various applications.