Effect of Bias Voltage on RF Hollow Cathode Discharge: A Simulation Study

The RF hollow cathode discharge was mathematically formulated with 2-D particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision (PIC-MCC) model and numerically simulated with PIC/MCC software. The influence of the biasvoltage, on the discharge properties, including the electron peak density and electric field profile in the hollow cathode, was investigated. The simulated results show that the bias voltage has a major impact. To be specific, as the bias voltage increases from -10 into -50 V, the peak electron density, radial-and axial-field distributions, much large than those without bias voltage, significantly increase. In approaching to steady discharge state, the increasing bias voltage strongly drives electrons from the vicinity of grounded anode into the hollow electrode hole, resulting in considerable enhancement of the highly stable peak electron density and e-field profile.