Floating Potentials in Two-Electron Temperature Plasma with Two Species of Positive Ions: Kinetic Model and PIC Simulation

Potential formation in a two electron temperature plasma with two species of positive ions has been studied analytically by a one‐dimensional, collision‐less fully kinetic model. The results have been verified in a PIC simulation. It has been found that addition of heavy ions and energetic electrons lowers the floating potential of an electrode in plasma. We have also shown that each ion species enters the sheath with the same velocity normalized to the corresponding ion acoustic velocity. Because of that the lighter ions hit the collector with higher velocity as compared to the case when they are the only ion species in the plasma (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)