Electron drift velocity in NH3 in strong electric fields determined from rf breakdown curves

Abstract

We report measurements of the breakdown curves of a radio-frequency capacitive discharge in low pressure ammonia. The electron drift velocity was determined from the location of turning points in the breakdown curves in the range of E/p = 42–713 Vcm−1 Torr−1. We compare our results to values calculated from the published cross-sections in the range E/p = 1–5000 Vcm−1 Torr−1 and find good agreement.