In a recent paper [1], Boeuf has addressed the question of electron transport in low temperature E × B discharge devices using PIC MCC simulations. Using a general approach, it has been demonstrated that particle simulations can be an extremely powerful tool to unravel some of the mysteries of electron transport in these devices. Even through the aim of the paper was not to provide a complete r...

Gas discharge plasmas are low-temperature nonequilibrium that have a wide range of scientific and technological applications. The particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision (PIC/MCC) method is reliable approach for numerical analyses simulations such plasmas. In this study, we first provide detailed description the basics method. We then verify programme code developed in Fortran by benchmarking ag...

Particle-in-cell with Monte Carlo collisions (PIC/MCC) is a fully kinetic, particle based numerical simulation method increasing popularity in the field of low temperature gas discharge physics. Already its simplest form (electrostatic, one-dimensional geometry, and explicit time integration), it can properly describe wide variety complex, non-local, non-linear phenomena electrical discharges a...

A Particle-in-Cell simulation with Monte Carlo Collisions (PIC-MCC) was conducted of the application of tailored DC voltage steps on an electrode, during the afterglow of a capacitively-coupled pulsed-plasma argon discharge, to control the energy of ions incident on the counter-electrode. Staircase voltage waveforms with selected amplitudes and durations resulted in ion energy distributions (IE...

Two–dimensional capacitively coupled radio frequency discharge in methane is simulated by PIC-MCC method. The results were obtained in pressure range 50-300 mTorr and voltage range 40-180 V for discharge frequency 13.56 MHz. The electron energy and electron– methane reaction rates spatial distributions show existence of two regimes of discharge glow: a) with active sheaths, when electrons are h...

Accurate modeling of the anomalous electron mobility is crucial for successful simulation of Hall thrusters. Existing computational models for the anomalous electron mobility are used to simulate the UM/AFRL P5 Hall thruster in a 2D axisymmetric hybrid PIC-MCC code. Comparison to experimental results indicates that while these computational models can be tuned to reproduce the correct thrust or...

As proved by previous study, the similarity of electromagnetic processes in plasmas will be violated Coulomb collisions between electron and ions. Therefore, there is no highly ionized collisional plasma. But situation completely different for with low ionization degree. The main collision type change from electron-ion to electron-molecule collision, a new variable (the number density neutral m...