Electron transport coefficients for NF3

Abstract

This paper reports the transport parameters of electrons in NF₃ we calculated employing the Bolsig code and cross sections of elastic and inelastic collisions between electrons and gas molecules. We determined the first Townsend coefficient for direct ionization of NF₃ molecules through electron impact (including the total one as well as partial contributions for each species of forming positive ions). We demonstrate that the appearance of positive NF₂⁺ ions is the most probable ionization process. We found the dissociative attachment coefficient and the reduced electric field value for which the electron ionization and attachment rates are equal, i.e., the effective ionization coefficient vanishes. We also employed the elastic and inelastic collision rates to calculate the portion of energy lost by electrons under collisions with NF₃ molecules, the average and characteristic electron energy, electron mobility and drift velocity. We also registered the RF breakdown curves for different inter-electrode gap and RF frequency values and employed the obtained turning point coordinates to determine the electron drift velocity in NF₃ in satisfactory agreement with the data of calculations furnished by the Bolsig code.