Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Low energy electron attachment to SF/sub 6/ in N/sub 2/, Ar, and Xe buffer gases

Journal Article · · J. Chem. Phys.; (United States)
OSTI ID:6190687

The electron attachment rate constants k/sub a/ for SF/sub 6/ have been measured in dilute mixtures of SF/sub 6/ in high pressure (>1 atm) N/sub 2/, Ar, and Xe buffer gases at room temperature (Tapprox. =300 K) over a wide E/N range (electric field strength to gas number density ratio), corresponding to mean electron energies from near thermal electron energies (approx. =0.04 eV) to approx. =4.3 eV. Particular attention has been paid to the effects of space charge distortion, molecular impurities, and changes in the electron energy distribution function on the measured electron attachment rate constant values at the lower E/N values in these mixtures. The present measured thermal electron attachment rate constants in SF/sub 6//N/sub 2/ and SF/sub 6//Xe gas mixtures are in excellent agreement with recent accurate measurements of these parameters in several SF/sub 6//buffer gas mixtures. At higher values, the present SF/sub 6//N/sub 2/ measurements are in fair agreement with previous measurements, while no previous measurements using Ar and Xe buffer gases have been published. These measurements have been used in numerical two term, spherical harmonic Boltzmann equation analyses of the electron motion in these gas mixtures to obtain the low energy (<10 eV) nondissociative and dissociative electron attachment cross sections for SF/sub 6/. The present derived electron attachment cross sections are compared with recently measured and derived nondissociative and dissociative electron attachment cross sections for SF/sub 6/.

Research Organization:
Atomic, Molecular, and High Voltage Physics Group, Health and Safety Research Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831
OSTI ID:
6190687
Journal Information:
J. Chem. Phys.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Chem. Phys.; (United States) Vol. 90:9; ISSN JCPSA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English