MONTE-CARLO SIMULATION OF DISCHARGE PLASMAS USING FINE SUBSLABS

A self-consistent Monte Carlo modelling technique has been developed t o study discharge plasmas. The fine subslab technique and weight proba bility method are introduced. These two methods are applied to a DC Ar -like gas discharge simulation. The discharge profiles obtained are in good agreement with the experimental ones. The electron energy loss m echanism in the cathode region is explained in detail. The electron en ergy distribution variation in the cathode fall and Rat plasma density regions are expressed in a wide range of magnitude. The electron mean energy profile has a local minimum point which corresponds to the max imum excitation collision point. An electron group with the energy of 6 to 10 eV is observed in the flat plasma density region. This energy corresponds to the potential difference from the maximum excitation co llision point to this flat region. Electron energy distributions have a wide range of over 6 orders of magnitude with only 5000 test particl es.