Gasaufheizung und Energiebilanz einer stationären hochfrequenten Ringentladung in Edelgasen

Gasheating and Energy Balance of a Stationary High Frequency Ring Discharge in Rare Gases The energy balance of an inductively coupled high frequency (28,5 Mhz) discharge in a cylindrical vessel (11,2 cm diam.) in Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe at pressures between 0,1 and 10 Torr and at power inputs between 10 and 1000 W is investigated. The heat power transferred to the neutral gas in the stationary discharge is determined from the time behaviour of the neutral gas pressure in the afterglow period. The power measurements are completed by probe measurements of the electron density and energy distribution function. The measured electron energy distribution functions are maxwellian with a slight deficit electrons in the energy range of inelastic collisions. The electron temperatures show a rather low radial space dependence which can be explained on the basis of the local energy, balance by thermal conduction in the electron gas. The measured gas heating power is within the experimental error (factor 2) in agreement with calculations from the measured electron temperature and density under the assumption that the gas is heated by elastic electron-atom-collision only. A discussion of the energy balance for the total discharge indicates volume recombination losses of the ions which increase the density of the excited atoms and hence the energy losses by stepwise exitations.