Monte Carlo studies of electron transport in crossed electric and magnetic fields in CF₄

Abstract

Electron transport in crossed electric and magnetic dc fields in CF4 is considered by employing an exact Monte Carlo simulation technique. Emphasis is placed on explicit and implicit effects of the combination of both the shape of cross-sections and magnetic field on relaxation processes and steady-state transport data. It has been shown that the application of a magnetic field changes the relaxation processes by increasing the relaxation times as well as, by introducing the oscillatory behaviour of some transport quantities during the relaxation process itself. The electron transport parameters studied here are collision frequency, mean energy, drift velocity, diffusion tensor and collisional rates for 1 ≤ E/N ≤ 1000 Td and 0 ≤ B/N ≤ 1000 Hx (1 Td = 10−21 V m2, 1 Hx = 10−27 T m3). Special attention is paid to the study of sensitivity of transport data in E × B fields on the energy dependence and nature of the cross-sections. The validity of the effective reduced electric field concept through Tonks' theorem is also investigated for CF4 in the evaluated range of mean energies.