Determination of the electron density in plasma by means of a floating double probe

Abstract

Investigations are performed in a microwave plasma expansion containing argon-nitrogen gas mixture. The purpose of this work is to measure accurate electron density values by means of a floating double probe. We check the accuracy of the different methods developed for the double probe under different experimental conditions in Ar- N2 gas mixture, comparing results to single probe measurements. On the basis of previous works, we propose a simple way to determine the electron density without the knowledge of the plasma potential. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.