Wave driven N2-Ar discharge.: I.: Self-consistent theoretical model

A theoretical model for a low pressure surface wave driven N-2-Ar discharge accounting in a self-consistent way for electron and heavy particle kinetics, gas thermal balance, and wave electrodynamics is developed. The inhomogeneous wave power transfer along the discharge and the concentrations of active species as a function of the spatial position and mixture composition are investigated. N-2(+) are the dominant ions over a wide range of Ar percentages in the mixture due to the contributions of charge transfer processes between Ar+ and N-2 and an effective associative ionization from N-2(A (3)Sigma(u)(+)). Dissociative recombination of N-2(+) with electrons provides an increase in the dissociation degree of nitrogen molecules at high Ar fractional concentration. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.