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Understanding Langmuir Probe Current-Voltage Characteristics
Understanding Langmuir Probe Current-Voltage Characteristics
Robert L. Merlinoa兲
Department of Physics and Astronomy The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
共Received 26 February 2007; accepted 14 July 2007兲
I give several simple examples of model Langmuir probe current-voltage 共I-V兲 characteristics that
help students learn how to interpret real I-V characteristics obtained in a plasma. Students can also
create their own Langmuir probe I-V characteristics using a program with the plasma density,
plasma potential, electron temperature, ion temperature, and probe area as input parameters. Some
examples of Langmuir probe I-V characteristics obtained in laboratory plasmas are presented and
analyzed. A few comments are made advocating the inclusion of plasma experiments in the
advanced undergraduate laboratory. © 2007 American Association of Physics Teachers.
关DOI: 10.1119/1.2772282兴
I. INTRODUCTION tial is the potential of the plasma with respect to the walls of
the device at a given location in the plasma. V P is generally
Plasma physicists use Langmuir probes in low temperature a few volts positive with respect to the walls, again because
plasmas1 共approximately a few electron volts兲 to measure the the swifter electrons tend to escape to the walls first, leaving
plasma density, electron temperature, and the plasma poten- the plasma with a slight excess of positive space charge. The
tial. A Langmuir probe consists of a bare wire or metal disk, bulk of the plasma, however, is “quasineutral”
which is inserted into a plasma and electrically biased with 共electron density⬵ ion density兲, and the potential difference
respect to a reference electrode to collect electron and/or between the bulk of the plasma and the wall is concentrated
positive ion currents. Examples of the use of a cylindrical in a thin layer or sheath near the wall. The gradient of the
共wire兲 probe in a gas discharge tube and a planar disk probe plasma potential determines the electric field that is respon-
in a hot filament discharge plasma are shown in Fig. 1. sible for energizing the electrons, which maintain the dis-
Probes, initially called “sounding electrodes,” were first used charge through ionization.
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in an attempt to Although physicists knew that V f and V P were not the
measure the voltage distribution in gas discharges. A gas same, they thought that the difference was probably small,
discharge 关Fig 1共a兲兴 is produced in a glass tube of about and in any case, they had no way of either estimating the
2 – 5 cm diameter and 20– 40 cm long, which contains metal difference or of measuring the actual plasma potential. Irving
disk electrodes 共anode and cathode兲 at both ends. The tube is Langmuir and Harold Mott-Smith of the General Electric
first evacuated and then refilled with a gas at low pressure Research Laboratory in the 1920s were the first to provide a
共about 1 Torr or less兲 and an electrical discharge 共ionized gas quantitative understanding of the difference between V f and
or “plasma”兲 is formed by applying a DC voltage of V P. They developed an experimental method for determining
300– 400 V across the electrodes. A common example of a the plasma potential and also showed how it was possible to
discharge tube is an ordinary fluorescent light. Probes are use the probe 共now known as a “Langmuir” probe兲 to deter-
inserted at one or more locations along the length of the tube, mine the plasma density and the electron temperature as
with the exposed tips protruding into the plasma column. The well.2 Langmuir’s method consists of obtaining the current-
early users of probes naively assumed that the potential of voltage 共I-V兲 characteristic of the probe as the applied bias
the plasma at the location of the probe 共known as the plasma voltage VB, is swept from a negative to a positive potential.
potential or space potential and designated as V P兲 could be Many students of experimental plasma physics are given
determined by measuring the potential on the probe relative the task of constructing and implementing a Langmuir probe
to one of the electrodes. However, this procedure determined in a plasma. They quickly realize that building the probe and
the floating potential V f of the probe which is generally not obtaining a I-V characteristic is much easier than extracting
the same as the plasma potential. By definition, a probe that accurate values of the plasma parameters from the data. The
is electrically floating, collects no net current from the literature dealing with the theory of the Langmuir probes is
plasma, and thus its potential rises and falls to whatever po- extensive, and new papers appear regularly. My purpose here
tential is necessary to maintain zero net current. is not to discuss the complexities of probe theory, which is
In a typical plasma, the electrons, because of their smaller treated in a number of excellent monographs,3–9 but to pro-
mass, have significantly higher thermal speeds than the posi- vide a method to help students understand why a Langmuir
tive ions, even if the electrons and ions are at the same tem- characteristic looks the way it does. The difficulty with un-
perature. Usually the electrons have a higher temperature derstanding probe I-V characteristics stems from the fact that
than the positive ions. Although a plasma is electrically neu- the electrons and ions are not monoenergetic and often have
tral, and the electron and ion densities are very nearly equal, very different temperatures. As a result, the probe sometimes
a floating probe will tend initially to draw a higher electron collects only ion current, sometimes only electron current,
current because the electrons reach the probe faster than the and sometimes both. It is easier to understand and analyze
more massive ions. Because the net current to the floating the full I-V characteristic if the ion and electron current con-
probe must be zero, the probe floats to a negative potential tributions are separated.
relative to the plasma so that further collection of electrons is In Sec. II we discuss the most basic aspects of probe
retarded and ion collection is enhanced. Thus, the floating theory needed to calculate the individual electron and ion
potential is less than the plasma potential. The plasma poten- currents, and then construct an ideal probe I-V relation using
1078 Am. J. Phys. 75 共12兲, December 2007 http://aapt.org/ajp © 2007 American Association of Physics Teachers 1078
collects the ion saturation current Iis. Positive ions continue
to be collected by the probe until the bias voltage reaches V P,
at which point ions begin to be repelled by the probe. For
VB V P, all positive ions are repelled, and the ion current to
the probe vanishes, Ii = 0. For a Maxwellian ion distribution
at the temperature Ti, the dependence of the ion current
Ii共VB兲 共usually taken to be the negative current兲 on VB is
given by10
where, ni is the ion density, vi,th = 冑8kTi / mi is the ion ther-
mal speed, mi is the ion mass, and Aprobe is the probe collect-
ing area. When Te Ti,11 the ion saturation current is not
determined by the ion thermal speed, but rather is given by
the Bohm ion current3,4,12
inclusion of plasma experiments in the undergraduate ad- In the vicinity of a negatively biased probe, both the
vanced laboratory course. electron and ion densities decrease as the particles ap-
proach the probe, but not at the same rate. The electron
II. MODEL LANGMUIR PROBE CURRENT- density decreases because electrons are repelled by the
probe. In contrast, the ions are accelerated toward the
VOLTAGE CHARACTERISTICS
probe, and due to the continuity of the current density, the
In this section I discuss some of the basic aspects of Lang- ion density decreases. A positive space charge sheath can
muir probe theory that are needed to construct model probe form only if the ion density exceeds the electron density at
I-V characteristics. Two examples of ideal probe I-V charac- the sheath edge, and for the ion density to decrease more
teristics are then given. Finally, a discussion of how the ideal slowly than the electron density, the ions must approach
characteristics must be modified to account for real probe the sheath with a speed exceeding the Bohm velocity uB
effects is presented. = 共kTe / mi兲1/2.13,15 To achieve this speed, the ions must ac-
quire an energy corresponding to a potential drop of
A. Ion and electron currents to a Langmuir probe 0.5共kTe / e兲, which occurs over a long distance in the
plasma. The factor of 0.6 in Eq. 共3兲 is due to the reduction
1. The ion current
in the density of the ions in the presheath, which is the
When the bias voltage VB, on the probe is sufficiently region over which the ions are accelerated up to the Bohm
negative with respect to the plasma potential V P, the probe speed.
1079 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 75, No. 12, December 2007 Robert L. Merlino 1079
Table I. Parameters of a typical laboratory plasma used to construct an ideal
Langmuir probe volt-ampere characteristic.
再
electron current as a function of VB can be expressed as
Ies exp关− e共V P − VB兲/kTe兴, VB ⱕ V P ,
Ie共VB兲 = 共5兲 be calculated from Eqs. 共1兲–共5兲, as the bias voltage at which
Ies , VB ⬎ V P . Ii共V f 兲 + Ie共V f 兲 = 0,
The electron saturation current Ies is given by Ies exp关e共V f − V P兲/kTe兴 = Iis , 共7兲
1
Ies = eneve,thAprobe , 共6兲 or
冉 冊冉 冑 冊
4
kTe 2me
where ne is the electron density, ve,th ⬅ 冑8kTe / me is the V f = VP +
e
ln 0.6
mi
. 共8兲
electron thermal speed, and me is the electron mass. We see
from Eqs. 共2兲, 共3兲, and 共6兲 that because ne = ni and me mi, If the appropriate parameters are inserted into Eq. 共6兲, we
the electron saturation current will be much greater than find that V f = V P − 5.2Te, or V f = −9.4 V for 共kTe / e兲 = 2 V, cor-
the ion saturation current. For example, in an argon plasma responding to an electron temperature of 2 eV.
for Te Ti we see from Eqs. 共3兲 and 共6兲 that Ies / Iis The nature of the Langmuir probe I-V characteristic of the
= 冑mi / me / 共0.6冑2兲 = 271/ 1.5= 180. type shown in Fig. 2 is dominated by the fact that the speed
of the electrons is considerably higher than that of the posi-
tive ions. As a consequence, it is impossible to use the probe
B. Examples of Langmuir probe characteristic to determine the ion temperature, whereas the electron tem-
1. The ideal Langmuir probe characteristic perature can be easily found from the portion of the charac-
teristic corresponding to electron repulsion, that is, for VB
For the values in Table I, with Aprobe = 2共dprobe / 2兲2 ⬍ V P.
= 1.41⫻ 10−5 m2 for a planar disk probe that collects from
both sides, we find from Eqs. 共3兲 and 共6兲, Iis = 0.03 mA and
Ies = 5.4 mA, so that Ies / Iis = 180. The I-V characteristic cor- 2. Probe I-V characteristic for a positive ion (+) / negative
responding to these parameters is shown in Fig. 2. The cal- ion (−) plasma with m+ = m− and T+ = T−
culations of the ion current, Eq. 共1兲, the electron current, Eq. Consider constructing the I-V characteristic in a plasma
共5兲, and the total current I共VB兲 = Ie共VB兲 + Ii共VB兲 for the I-V consisting of positive and negative ions of equal mass and
curve in Fig. 2 were performed using the Maple procedure temperatures, for example. In this case because the thermal
function and the standard plotting command.16 Alternately, speeds of the positive and negative plasma constituents are
the data for the I-V curve could be computed and plotted in identical, we expect that V P = V f = 0, and I+s = I−s. An example
a spreadsheet program. The heavy solid curve in Fig. 2 is the of such an interesting plasma would be an electron-positron
total probe current; the electron current 共positive兲 and ion plasma.17 The probe I-V characteristic for this case is shown
current 共negative兲 are also indicated. The ion current is mag- in Fig. 3, where arbitrary 共but equal兲 values of the saturation
nified by a factor of 20 in order to see its contribution to the currents are used. An important point to take from a consid-
total current. Because the electron current is much larger eration of the I-V plot in Fig. 3 is that the part of the curve
than the ion current, it is necessary to bias the probe to very where the negative ions are repelled 共VB ⬍ V P兲 occurs at
negative voltages to even see the ion current. The total cur- −10 V ⬍ VB ⬍ 0 V, and the portion corresponding to positive
rent is also displayed on a magnified scale 共⫻20兲 to show the ion repulsion is 0 V ⬍ VB ⬍ 10 V. To find the negative ion
probe bias at which the total current is zero. The probe bias current the positive ion saturation current must be used as the
for which I共VB = V f 兲 = Ie + Ii = 0 is the probe’s floating poten- baseline 共and not the I = 0 line兲 and vice versa to obtain the
tial, which occurs at V f ⬇ −9.5 V. The floating potential can positive ion current. The line extrapolated from the ion cur-
1080 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 75, No. 12, December 2007 Robert L. Merlino 1080
Sheath expansion occurs for both the ion and electron cur-
rents and must be taken into account in the interpretation of
the I-V characteristics. The sheath expansion effect can be
incorporated in the ideal probe characteristic so that we can
learn how to deal with it when interpreting real Langmuir
probe characteristics. An illustration of this effect is shown in
Fig. 4. The parameters used to produce this I-V characteristic
were V P = 4 V, Ies = 100Iis , Te = 4 eV, and Ti = 0.1 eV. The
sheath expansion was modeled as a linear function of the
bias voltage with Iis共VB兲 = −关0.2共V P − VB兲 + Iis兴 for VB ⬍ V P for
the ions, and Ies共VB兲 = 0.7共VB − V P兲 + Ies for VB ⬎ V P for the
electrons. Figure 4共a兲 shows the full I-V characteristic. Real
characteristics rarely show the sharp knee at the plasma po-
tential; rather the knee tends to be rounded 共as illustrated by
the dotted curve兲 due to the presence of oscillations of the
plasma potential15 or averaging in the data acquisition or
Fig. 3. Langmuir probe I-V characteristic for a plasma with positive and analysis process. The rounding of the knee complicates the
negative ions of equal mass and temperatures. The positive ion and negative determination of the electron saturation current, but the loca-
ion currents are also shown.
tion of the knee is made more evident by replotting the cur-
rent on a semilog scale, as shown in Fig. 4共b兲. Both Ies and
V p can now be easily determined as the coordinates of the
rent should also be used as the baseline to determine the intersection of two straight lines—one parallel to the curve
electron current for the case shown in Fig. 2, although in that above the knee and the other parallel to the sloping part. The
case the positive ion contribution is negligible, and the I = 0 slope of the straight line fit tothe electron current in Fig. 4共b兲
line can usually be used to measure Ie. When the plasma is used to determine Te, as Te = 共V2 − V1兲 / ln共Ie2 / Ie1兲, where 1
contains a significant fraction of high energy 共tens of elec- and 2 refer to any two points on the line. The electron current
tron volts兲 ionizing primary electrons in addition to the sec- begins falling off the straight line due to the contribution of
ondary electrons resulting from ionization, it is essential to the ion current. An accurate measurement of the ion current
first subtract the ion current from the total current to obtain in this case requires that Ii be obtained for a sufficiently
accurate values of the electron current. negative probe bias so that the electron contribution is ex-
cluded. The procedure for measuring Iis is shown in Fig.
4共c兲. The ion current is plotted on an expanded scale and a
C. Effect of sheath expansion on probe characteristics straight line is fitted through the points; Iis is taken as the
value of Ii at V p. More accurate methods of dealing with the
The sharp knee at the plasma potential 共V P = 1.0 V兲 in the nonsaturation of the ion current are discussed in Refs. 5, 7, 9,
I-V characteristic and flat electron and ion saturation currents and 18.
shown in Fig. 3 are ideal probe features that are rarely seen
in practice. For this reason the I-V characteristic in Fig. 1 is
III. EXAMPLES OF LANGMUIR PROBE
ideal. Real Langmuir probe I-V characteristics have rounded
knees and saturation currents that increase gradually with CHARACTERISTICS FROM LABORATORY
increasing voltage. The lack of saturation is related to the PLASMAS
fact that a sheath13–15 is formed around the probe, and this In this section I provide two examples of Langmuir probe
sheath expands with increasing bias voltage. Sheaths form I-V characteristics obtained in more realistic laboratory plas-
around any electrode in a plasma if the bias voltage differs mas. These examples demonstrate how the basic principles
from V P. The formation of a sheath is the plasma’s way of presented in Sec. II are applied in the interpretation of real
maintaining charge neutrality in the bulk of the plasma. An characteristics.
electrode with a positive bias 共relative to V P兲 attracts an elec-
tron cloud to limit the penetration of the electric field into the A. Multidipole plasma
plasma to a distance approximately equal to the electron De-
bye length, De, defined in Eq. 共4兲. If the plasma density is A multidipole device19–21 is a relatively simple setup for
greater than ⬃1016 m−3 and Te ⬇ 2 eV, then the sheath width producing a plasma that can be used for basic plasma physics
will be ⱕ0.1 mm. In this case the expansion of the sheath experiments. A schematic diagram of a typical multidipole
will produce only a negligible increase in current as the device is shown in Fig. 1共b兲. It is essentially a large 共about
probe bias is increased. For lower plasma densities and small 20 l兲 stainless steel soup pot 共sometimes literally兲 which is
probes the sheath expansion produces an increase in the col- pumped down to a base pressure of ⬃10−6 Torr, and then
lected current because the effective area for particle collec- filled with a gas such as argon to a pressure of approximately
tion is the sheath area and not the geometric probe area. 10−5 – 10−3 Torr. The plasma is produced by electron emis-
Another way to think about the sheath expansion effect is to sion from a set of tungsten filaments that are biased to a
realize that for a finite probe, the collection of plasma par- negative potential of approximately 50 V. The thermioni-
ticles is limited by fact that some particles that enter the cally emitted primary electrons that are accelerated from the
sheath will orbit around the probe and not be collected. As filaments ionize the gas producing the plasma. To enhance
the potential on the probe is increased, the minimum impact the probability that a primary electron will undergo an ion-
parameter for which particles are collected increases and thus izing collision with a neutral atom, the walls of the device
more particles will be collected. are lined with permanent magnets in rows of opposite polar-
1081 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 75, No. 12, December 2007 Robert L. Merlino 1081
Fig. 5. Langmuir probe I-V characteristic obtained in a multidipole plasma
in argon at a pressure of 0.5 mTorr. 共a兲 Electron current. 共b兲 log I共VB兲 versus
VB. The semilog plot of the electron current provides a clear demarcation of
the plasma potential and electron saturation current. Te is found from the
slope of the exponentially decreasing portion. 共c兲 Expanded scale view of
the ion current used to find Iis.
1082 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 75, No. 12, December 2007 Robert L. Merlino 1082
currents is considerably larger, but expected. The gyroradius
of the electrons is typically much smaller than that of the
ions so that the collection of electrons is affected more than
the collection of ions. In that case, measurements of the
plasma density using the ion saturation current are more re-
liable.
It is interesting to calculate the fraction of the neutral ar-
gon atoms that are actually ionized in the plasma using the
measured value of the plasma density. This fraction is known
as the percent ionization or ionization fraction. The density
of the neutral argon atoms is na = P / kTg, where Tg is the
temperature of the neutral gas, and P is the neutral gas pres-
sure. For P = 5 ⫻ 10−4 Torr and Tgas ⬇ 300 K, na = 1.65
⫻ 1019 m−3. With ni = 8 ⫻ 1016 m−3, we obtain ni / na = 0.005.
Thus, only 0.5% of the neutral atoms are ionized.
The fact that the neutral density is roughly 1000 times the
Fig. 6. Langmuir probe I-V characteristic obtained in a singly ionized po-
plasma density might lead one to wonder about the role of
tassium plasma produced in a Q machine. SF6 gas was introduced into the
these neutral atoms on the plasma and probe measurements. plasma to form a negative ion plasma by electron attachment. A substantial
To access the possible effects of collisions of the ions and fraction of the electrons became attached to the heavy SF6 molecules result-
electrons with neutrals, we need to estimate a few typical ing in a nearly symmetric probe characteristic with I+s ⬇ I−s. The lower curve
collision mean free paths, = 共na兲−1, where is the cross is the derivative of the probe current, dI / dVB. The plasma potential is the
section22 for the particular process considered. For ioniza- value of the VB for which dI / dVB is a maximum.
tion, ionz ⬇ 8 ⫻ 10−20 m2 共for 50 eV electrons on argon兲, so
ionz ⬃ 75 cm. Thus ionz is on the order of the dimensions of
a typical laboratory plasma device. The relatively long ion-
ization mean free path explains, in part, the relatively low
value of the ionization percentage—electrons that are ener- is 4.52 eV. Surface ionization is exploited in a Q machine23
getically capable of ionizing atoms are more likely to make it by directing an atomic beam of cesium or potassium atoms
to the wall before ionizing an atom. onto a hot 共⬃2000 K兲 tungsten or tantalum plate, usually
The purpose of the magnets on the walls of the multidi- several centimeters in diameter. Both positive ions and ther-
pole device is to reflect the ionizing electrons back into the mionic electrons emerge from the plate forming a nearly
plasma, thus increasing their chances of having an ionizing fully ionized plasma that is confined by a strong
collision. Electrons can also make elastic collisions with neu- 共⬃0.1– 0.5 T兲 longitudinal magnetic field. The relatively
tral atoms; a typical cross section in this case is en good thermal contact between the plasma and the hot plate
⬃ 10−20 m2, giving en ⬃ 6 m. For collisions between the results in a plasma in which both the electrons and positive
ions and neutral atoms, the most important process to con- ions are at roughly the plate temperature, typically 0.2 eV.
sider is charge exchange, Ar+ + Ar→ Ar+ Ar+, in which an
The Q machine has been used mainly for studying the basic
argon ion exchanges an electron with an argon atom, result-
ing in the production of very slow argon ions and argon properties of magnetized plasmas, and in particular plasma
atoms with an energy practically equal to the initial energy of waves. 共The Q designation refers to the expectation that a
the ions. The cross section for this process is in ⬃ 5 thermally produced plasma would be quiescent, that is, rela-
⫻ 10−19 m2, giving in ⬃ 12 cm. tively free of low frequency plasma instabilities.兲
We note that for all of the processes considered the mean Negative ions are readily formed in a Q machine plasma
free paths are much greater than the probe size and the by leaking into the vacuum chamber sulfur hexafluoride SF6
shielding distance or sheath size, so that even though the at a pressure ⬃10−5 – 10−4 Torr. Electrons attach to SF6
neutral density far exceeds the plasma density, the neutral forming SF−6 negative ions.25 The cross section for electron
gas atoms produce negligible effects on the probe measure- attachment to SF6 is energy dependent and peaks in the en-
ments. ergy range that coincides closely with that of the Q machine
electrons. Under these circumstances it is possible to produce
B. A positive ion/negative ion plasma in a Q machine plasmas in which the ratio of electron density to positive ion
density is ne / n+ ⬍ 10−3. A Langmuir probe I-V characteristic
Figure 3 is an example of a Langmuir probe I-V charac- obtained in such a K+ / SF−6 共m− / m+ = 3.7兲 is shown in Fig. 6.
teristic in a plasma in which the positive and negative par-
Note that the negative ion 共positive current兲 and positive ion
ticles have the same mass. This example might appear to be
exotic, but it is not difficult to produce a plasma having 共negative current兲 saturation currents are comparable. With
almost equal numbers of positive and negative ions of com- such a characteristic the plasma potential is most easily
parable mass. We have produced positive ion/negative ion determined as the voltage at which the first derivative of
plasmas 共also known as electronegative plasmas兲 in a device the characteristic is a maximum. In this case we see that
called a Q machine.23 In a Q machine the plasma is produced V P ⬵ −1 V. The characteristic is roughly symmetric about I
by surface ionization, an effect discovered by Langmuir and = 0, with a floating potential V f ⬇ V P, a result that is to be
Kingdon in 1923.24 They found that cesium atoms that come expected in a plasma with n+ ⬇ n− and ne n+. When the
into contact with a tungsten filament heated to 1200 K negative ion and positive ion densities are comparable, it
emerge as cesium ions. The reason is that the ionizing poten- may even be possible to extract both the negative and posi-
tial of cesium is 3.89 eV, and the work function for tungsten tive ion temperatures from the Langmuir characteristic.
1083 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 75, No. 12, December 2007 Robert L. Merlino 1083
IV. COMMENTS
A Langmuir probe I-V characteristic becomes less confus-
1
Te
=
nec 1
冉 冊 冉 冊
ne Tec
+
neh 1
ne Teh
. 共A1兲
冦 冣
topics for undergraduate thesis projects. For instructors con- 1
templating the inclusion of plasma experiments in advanced
*
Iep ⬅ enepvepAprobe , VB ⬎ V P ,
4
冋 册 冉 冊
laboratory courses, my suggestion is to start with the basic
multidipole plasma.19–21 This device is relatively simple and * 2e共V P − VB兲 2
mevep
inexpensive, with the most costly component being the = Iep 1− 2 , Vp − ⱕ VB ⱕ V P ,
mevep 2e
冉 冊
vacuum pumping system. If money is not a concern, it is 2
possible to purchase fully operational vacuum systems that mevep
0, VB ⱕ V P − ,
are easily adaptable for plasma production. Although it is 2e
now possible to purchase off the shelf Langmuir probe sys- 共A2兲
tems, complete with probe and associated electronics, the
experience of constructing probes from scratch is a valuable
one that should not be avoided. Building a probe is often the where nep is the density of primary electrons, and vep
first instance in which students are required to use their = 冑2E p / me is the speed of the primary electrons with energy
hands to create an experimental instrument. Far too often E p. To produce an I-V plot, assume that the primary electrons
students are left with the impression that everything needed are accelerated through a potential drop ⬃50– 60 V, and the
to perform a measurement can be found at manufacturers’ density is in the range of 共0.001– 0.1兲ne.
web sites.
a兲
Electronic mail: robert-merlino@uiowa.edu
1
It is common in plasma physics to give temperatures in equivalent energy
ACKNOWLEDGMENT units 共eV兲. For example, we say that Te = 2 eV, which means we are really
giving kTe converted to electron volts. The actual temperature corre-
This work was supported by the U.S. Department of sponding to 1 eV is 11,600 K.
Energy Grant DE-FG02-04ER54795. 2
I. Langmuir and H. Mott-Smith, “The theory of collectors in gaseous
discharges,” Phys. Rev. 28, 727–763 共1926兲.
3
I suggest that Langmuir probe novices start by reading Noah Hershkow-
APPENDIX: SUGGESTED PROBLEMS itz’s article, “How Langmuir probes work,” in Plasma Diagnostics, Dis-
FOR FURTHER STUDY charge Parameters and Chemistry, edited by O. Auciello and D. L.
Flamm 共Academic, Boston, 1989兲, Vol. 1, Chap. 3.
4
The following two problems are intended to extend the B. E. Cherrington, “The use of Langmuir probes for plasma diagnostics:
basic probe theory to include some other important effects A review,” Plasma Chem. Plasma Process. 2, 113–140 共1982兲.
5
F. F. Chen, “Electric Probes,” in Plasma Diagnostic Techniques, edited by
often encountered in using Langmuir probes in realistic plas- R. H. Huddlestone and S. L. Leonard 共Academic, New York, 1965兲,
mas. Chap. 4. A concise summary of Langmuir probe techniques by F. F. Chen,
Problem 1. It is not uncommon to find in low pressure “Lecture notes on Langmuir probe diagnostics” is available at
plasma discharges that there are two distinct Maxwellian dis- 具www.ee.ucla.edu/~ffchen/Publs/Chen210R.pdf典.
6
tributions of electrons—a cold and hot distribution with tem- L. Schott, “Electrical probes,” in Plasma Diagnostics, edited by W.
peratures Tec and Teh, respectively. Extend the analysis of Lochte-Holtgreven 共North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1968兲, Chap. 11.
7
J. D. Swift and M. J. R. Schwar, Electrical Probes for Plasma Diagnos-
Sec. II to include a two-temperature electron distribution. In
tics 共American Elsevier, New York, 1969兲.
this case the electron probe current is written as Ie共VB兲 8
I. H. Hutchinson, Principles of Plasma Diagnostics, 2nd ed. 共Cambridge
= Iec共VB兲 + Ieh共VB兲. Take the respective densities of the cold U.P., Cambridge, 2002兲, Chap. 3.
9
and hot components to be nec and neh with ne = nec + neh. To J. G. Laframboise, “Theory of spherical and cylindrical Langmuir probes
simplify the analysis, introduce the parameter f eh ⬅ neh / ne as in a collisionless, Maxwellian plasma,” Univ. Toronto Aerospace Studies
Report No. 11 共1966兲.
the fraction of hot electrons, so that nec / ne = 1 − f eh. An inter- 10
Reference 3, p. 118.
esting issue arises as to what value of Te to use in calculating 11
It is common in discharge plasmas to have Ti Ⰶ Te due to the fact that the
the Bohm ion current. It was shown26 that the appropriate Te ions are created from neutral atoms at room temperature, while the elec-
is the harmonic average of Tec and Teh: trons are considerable hotter 共by a factor of about 100兲 because they must
1084 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 75, No. 12, December 2007 Robert L. Merlino 1084
be energized to ionization energies to maintain the discharge. Energy Sheridan’s model and its verification,” Phys. Plasmas 14, 033507-1–4
transfer between the massive ions and light electrons is inefficient, so the 共2007兲.
19
ions remain relatively cold. R. Limpaecher and K. R. MacKenzie, “Magnetic multipole confinement
12
Reference 3, p. 125; see also the review article by K.-U. Riemann, “The of large uniform collisionless quiescent plasmas,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 44,
Bohn sheath criterion and sheath formation,” J. Phys. D 24, 493–518 726–731 共1973兲.
共1991兲, and the recent article by G. D. Severn, “A note on the plasma 20
A. Lang and N. Hershkowitz, “Multidipole plasma density,” J. Appl.
sheath and the Bohm criterion,” Am. J. Phys. 75, 92–94 共2007兲. Phys. 49, 4707–4710 共1978兲.
13
F. F. Chen, Introduction to Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 2nd 21
R. A. Bosch and R. L. Merlino, “Multidipole confinement of argon and
ed. 共Plenum, New York, 1984兲, Vol. 1, p. 290. potassium plasmas,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 57, 2940–2950 共1986兲.
14
Reference 13, p. 8. 22
15 A good source for cross sections relevant to plasma physics is S. C.
M. A. Lieberman and A. J. Lichtenberg, Principles of Plasma Discharges
Brown, Basic Data of Plasma Physics, 2nd ed. 共MIT Press, Cambridge,
and Materials Processing, 2nd ed. 共Wiley, New York, 2005兲, Chap. 6.
16 MA, 1967兲.
See EPAPS Document No. E-AJPIAS-75-009710 for a MAPLE program 23
that can be used to produce Langmuir I-V curves. This document can be R. W. Motley, Q Machines 共Academic, New York, 1975兲.
24
reached through a direct link in the online article’s HTML reference I. Langmuir and K. H. Kingdon, “Thermionic effects caused by alkali
section or via the EPAPS homepage 共http://www.aip.org/pubservs/ vapors in vacuum tubes,” Science 57, 58–60 共1923兲.
25
epaps.html兲. This program can also be accessed from Bin Song, D. Suszcynsky, N. D’Angelo, and R. L. Merlino, “Electrostatic
具www.physics.uiowa.edu/~rmerlino/典. ion-cyclotron waves in a plasma with negative ions,” Phys. Fluids B 1,
17
See, for example, T. Sunn Pedersen, A. H. Boozer, W. Dorland, J. P. 2316–2318 共1989兲.
26
Kremer, and R. Schmitt, “Prospects for the creation of positron-electron S. B. Song, C. S. Chang, and Duk-In Choi, “Effect of two-temperature
plasmas in a non-neutral stellarator,” J. Phys. B 36, 1029–1039 共2003兲. electron distribution on the Bohm sheath criterion,” Phys. Rev. E 55,
18
D. Lee and N. Hershkowitz, “Ion collection by planar Langmuir probes: 1213–1216 共1997兲.
1085 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 75, No. 12, December 2007 Robert L. Merlino 1085