ABSTRACT
In recognition of the cathode glow in DC discharge of TMS, the first step of creating DC glow discharge could be illustrated as follows. When electrical voltage is applied between cathode and anode, the surface state electrons are pulled out of the cathode surface and moved toward the anode. In this process, electrons are accelerated under the electrical field in the cathode region. As soon as electrons gain enough energy to dissociate LCVD gas, the dissociation of gas occurs. Some of dissociated species are in excited states and emit photons to dissipate the excess energy. The photon emission causes the luminous gas phase, which is recognized as the cathode glow because the dissociation took place near the cathode surface. Some of dissociated species are non-polymer forming, in most cases H2, and create the ionization glow, which takes place away from the cathode surface. In the absence of LCVD gas, e.g., glow discharge of Ar, the electrons pulled out of the cathode surface, which are considered as the primary electrons under this scheme, are accelerated to higher electron energy to create the ionization glow.
