Massenspektrometrische untersuchungen des ionenstromes an der kathode anomaler glimmentladungen

A method for measuring the mass and energy distribution of the ion current at the cathode of anomalous glow discharges is described. A commercial hf time-of-flight mass spectrometer for residual gas analysis is combined with a newly developed energy analyzer. The method is used to analyse the mass distribution of ions of both high and low energy at the cathode of discharges in nitrogen and argon and to measure the energy distribution of the Ar⁺ ions in discharges in argon. By applying the theory of Davis and Vanderslice to this energy distribution the cross section for resonant charge transfer of Ar⁺ ions was determined. The results lie well within the range of values reported in the literature.