Enhanced transportation of energetic electrons in dual-frequency atmospheric microplasmas

A comparative study of electron kinetics between single-frequency (SF) microplasmas and their equivalent dual-frequency (DF) microplasmas with matching effective frequencies in atmospheric-pressure helium discharges was performed using particle-in-cell simulation with a Monte Carlo collision. The effective-frequency concept helps in analyzing DF microplasmas in a fashion similar to SF microplasmas with effective parameters. In this study, the plasma characteristics such as the plasma potential, density, and electron energy probability functions of the SF microplasma and its DF counterpart were almost the same. However, the oscillating sheath edge was pushed further into the electrode for a substantial fraction of the time and the sheath width decreased in DF microplasmas. As a result, the transportation of the energetic electrons (e > 4 eV) usable for tailoring the surface chemistry in atmospheric microplasmas is enhanced in DF microplasmas as compared to SF microplasmas.