A dissociative electron attachment cross-section estimator

Abstract

Dissociative electron attachment (DEA) is the major process where molecules are destroyed in low-energy plasmas. DEA cross sections are therefore important for a whole variety of applications but are both hard to measure or compute accurately. A method for estimating DEA cross sections based a simple resonance plus survival model is presented. Test results are presented for DEA of molecular oxygen and molecular chlorine, for which experimental measurements are available for comparison, and SiBr and SiBr2, for which no previous data is available. The estimator has been implemented as part of Quantemol-N expert system which uses the R-matrix method to predict resonance positions and widths.