Modeling of the positive column of a constant-current discharge in CF4

The authors have analyzed the phenomena occurring within a positive discharge column in an electronegative gas (CF4) based on numerical solution of the system of continuity equations of the charged particles in the diffusion-drift approximation, the Poisson equation for the radial field, and the equation for the average electron energy. They demonstrate a number of qualitative features that characterize discharges in an electronegative gas: layering of the plasma, inapplicability of the concept of ambipolar diffusion, and weak dependence of the discharge characteristics on the value of the reflection coefficient of electrons from the wall