Calculation Of A Micro Discharge Energy Balance With PIC-MCC Method

In this paper, we present a 1D Particle in Cell with Monte Carlo Collisions model, developed in order to calculate the energy balance in a micro-discharge, under conditions similar to those of a Plasma Display Panel (PDP) cell. The discharge takes place in a xenon-neon (10%-90%) mixture at 560 torr and for a gap length of 100 mu m. The model is used to analyze in details the energy deposition during the discharge pulse. The results show the amount of energy dissipated by ions (collisions in the gas and on the cathode), by electrons (excitation of the different electronic states, ionization), and their variations with the applied voltage. This model will be used in the future to test the approximations of the fluid models which are generally used to optimize PDP operating conditions, and to check whether or not fluid models can correctly predict the trends in the variations of the energy balance with parameters such as voltage, pressure, gas mixture.