Jj. Lai et al., Self-consistent description of a DC hollow cathode discharge and analysis of cathode sputtering, ACT PHY C E, 50(8), 2001, pp. 1528-1533
The characteristics of DC hollow, cathode discharge and cathode sputtering
was investigated by means of a two-dimensional hybrid model, combing Monte
Carlo simulation of the motion of fast electrons and a fluid description of
slow electrons and positive ions. The results demonstrate the existence of
the hollow cathode effect in the discharge and show that the spatial shape
of the normalized ionization source is dependent more on the gas pressure
than on the discharge voltage. The factors related to the cathode sputterin
g were analyzed. Investigations have demonstrated that the non-uniform sput
tering on the cathode surfaces in a sputter-type ion laser is due to the no
n-uniform distribution of electric field, flux and density of ions bombardi
ng the cathodes.