Influence of electrode-size effects on plasma sheath expansion

Influence of the electrode-size effects on plasma sheath expansion is inves tigated for a negative voltage at the cathode with maximum amplitude of V-0 , assuming that the cathode is a thin, flat, conducting, circular disk of r adius R. It is shown that propagation of the sheath front is proportional t o the one-third power of the combination, 2V(0)R/pi. Experimental measureme nts have been carried out to verify theoretical predictions. The experiment al data agree remarkably well with theoretical results in every aspect. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)02338-X].