Electron Energy Distribution Functions in Ionized Gases: An Engineering Point of View

Electron energy distribution functions in low degree ionized gases are of fundamental importance in understanding ionization phenomena in gases and provide a link between theory and measurements. The paper provides a brief historical review of the present state of study in this area, and includes an update of both experimental study of transport phenomena and calculation of the distribution functions. Recent researches in to application of gas discharges in several different areas are briefly included. The need for an analytical expression of the distribution function is pointed out. With this objective a bimodal distribution function is developed and in previous publications its applicability to argon, neon, and xenon have been shown to be successful. In this paper the bimodal distribution is applied to Penning mixtures of neon and argon, and good agreement is obtained between the measured and calculated first ionization coefficients as a function of reduced electric field. Other swarm parameters calculated by this method are also presented for the first time.