Sructure of steady-state Debye layers in a low-density plasma near a dielectric surface

Abstract

Exact steady-state analytic solutions describing kinetic processes in a low-density plasma layer near a dielectric surface are found in a time-dependent one-dimensional model with allowance for secondary electron emission. It is shown that, at low electron temperatures, both the electric potential and electron density monotonically decrease toward the dielectric surface (Debye layer). As the electron temperature increases, an anti-Debye layer first forms, in which the potential monotonically increases toward the wall, and regimes with a nonmonotonic potential profile then arise.