Comparative Analysis of Kinetic Schemes for Simulating DC Micro-Discharges in Helium: from Glow to ARC

This work provides a comparative analysis of the sensitivity of the two most widely used kinetic schemes in helium when simulating various modes of direct current discharges in helium: glow and arc. In particular, a kinetic scheme with the formation of three excited atomic states and one molecular state, as well as a scheme with five excited atomic states and two molecular states, are considered. It is shown that the two models yield different results in the glow discharge mode and similar results in the transition from glow to arc and in the arc mode. A study was carried out of the influence of recombination constants from various databases on the discharge characteristics.