Microphysical boundary condition for the electron kinetics of a plasma

TL;DR

This paper develops a detailed, inelastic boundary condition for electron kinetics in plasmas, accounting for microphysical processes at material surfaces, and demonstrates its implementation and impact through simulations involving different plasma-wall interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel boundary condition based on surface scattering kernels that incorporates inelastic, angle- and energy-dependent effects for electron-wall interactions.

Findings

Inelastic boundary condition affects electron distribution near walls.

Implementation shows modest computational cost increase.

Results vary with different plasma gases and materials.

Abstract

We derive and implement a suitable boundary condition for the kinetic description of the electrons inside a plasma, which takes into account microphysical processes inside the wall. It is based on the surface scattering kernel, which describes the scattering cascade of the electron in the solid and the excitation of secondary electrons. The resulting boundary condition is inelastic, angle- and energy-dependent. The implementation for a Boltzmann equation solved by a Legendre polynomial expansion method is presented, elucidating the modest additional computational cost of the new boundary condition. Results, indicating the influence of the inelasticity, are shown for the example of a silicon wall facing argon, helium and oxygen plasmas, but the described construction is also valid for other materials. An effective reflection coefficient is defined to compare the results with previously used boundary conditions.