Glow Discharge Characteristics PIC / MCC Simulation

The plasma discharge technology has attracted more and more attention due to its extensive applications. The glow discharge takes an important part in the plasma discharge. It can be used for material processing, organic degradation, sterilization, disinfection, discharge source and ozone generation. Using the glow discharge to degrade dyeing water has become a hot point. But the mechanism of the plasma discharge is not very clear. Simulation via computer is an effective way to solve these problems.In this paper, we simulate and analyze the glow discharge. The work is shown briefly as below.(1) The discharge principles, generation conditions, components of the discharge areas and fundamental features are introduced in order to provide the theoretic knowledge for the physical model of the glow discharge.(2) Basing on the fundamental features of the glow discharge. One-dimensional, two-dimensional, even three-dimensional model can be built with the particle in cell method and monte carlo method. The electric field driven by space charges is solved by PIC method, and various collisions between particles are described with MCC method.(3) The physical model is embodied with the needle-plane electrodes geometry and the specific discharge gas. In the collisions between charged particles and neutral particles, the elastic and inelastic collisions are introduced. The glow discharge is simulated with the software matlab2008b. Several properties are analyzed including the plasma collective motion, collisions and the interaction between charged particles and the boundary.(4) Through the operation of the program, the coordinate values, energies, angles, and velocities of electrons are achieved. With these data, we can get the velocity, the energy, the net charge distributions of electrons and so on. The influences of gas type, the voltage and the distance between electrodes are studied. The numerical results are consistent with the features of the glow discharge and vividly depict the evolution of charged particles in the plasma.