Electronegativity of low-pressure high-density oxygen discharges

We use a global (volume averaged) model to study the presence of negative i ons and metastable species in low-pressure high-density oxygen discharges. We find the negative oxygen ion O- to be the dominant negative ion in the d ischarge, the density of the negative ion O-2(-) to be small and the densit y of the negative ion O-3(-) to be negligible in the pressure range of inte rest, 1-100 mTorr. Dissociative attachment of the oxygen molecule in the gr ound-state O-2((3)Sigma (-)(g)) and the metastable oxygen molecule O-2(a(1) Delta (g)) are the dominating channels for the creation of the negative ox ygen ion O-. At low pressure (<5 mTorr) recombination involving O- and O+ i ons is the main loss channel for O- ions. At higher pressure, the detachmen t on O(P-3) becomes the main loss channel for the O- ion. The creation of O -2(-) is mainly through dissociative attachment of ozone O-3, Ozone is almo st entirely created through detachment by the collision of O- with the meta stable oxygen molecule O-2(a(1)Delta (g)). The creation of O-2(-) is thus g reatly influenced by this detachment process and neglecting the detachment has a significant influence on the density of O-2(-) ions. At low pressure (< 10 mTorr) the O-2(-) ion is mainly lost through recombination while at h igher pressure the charge transfer to form O-2 is the dominating loss proce ss.