Floating potential and sheath thickness for cylindrical and spherical probes in electronegative plasmas

In this paper, the floating potential, for cylindrical and spherical Langmuir probes immersed into an electronegative plasma, is determined by using a radial model described in a previous paper. This floating potential is determined for several probe radius values and ranks of plasma electronegativity, from almost electropositive plasmas to high electronegative plasmas. The thickness of the positive ion sheath is also determined for this kind of probes in electronegative plasmas, as well as the analytical expressions fitting this thickness, showing its dependence on the probe radius and electric potential. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.