Cross sections and transport coefficients for electrons in C2H6O and its mixtures with Ar and Ne

Abstract: In this paper, we show and discuss a set of cross sections for electron collisions with dimethyl ether (DME, C ₂H ₆O) obtained by the standard swarm analysis of experimental data for drift velocities and ionization coefficients measured in pure DME and its mixtures with Ar and Ne by E. Oettinger and coworkers. While the existing cross section set gave relatively good predictions for drift velocities, it proved necessary to modify the inelastic cross sections in order to achieve a better agreement with drift velocities in gas mixtures and a good agreement for the ionization coefficient. Furthermore, the derived set of cross sections was used to calculate the electron transport and rate coefficients under the influence of a constant electric field and crossed electric and magnetic DC and RF orthogonal configuration fields. The effect of the magnitude and frequency of the fields on electron transport was studied separately. Our work has resulted in a database of collision and transport data which can be used in modeling of both DC and RF discharges and plasma applications containing pure DME and its mixtures. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].