Abstract: A two-dimensional PIC/MC model is developed for a hollow cathode discharge in nitrogen. The transition of potential and electric field from conventional hollow cathode discharge to the micro hollow cathode discharge in N₂ is studied. The results showed that the distributions of electric potential and electric field in different sizes of hollow cathode discharge are almost similar, but the electric field linear increases approximately with the hollow cathode diameter decrease and the pressure increase; The electric field in typical micro hollow cathode discharge is about 3 orders of magnitude bigger than in the conventional hollow cathode discharge; The electron, nitrogen molecular ions and nitrogen atoms ion density in the micro hollow cathode discharge is about 3 orders of magnitude bigger than in conventional hollow cathode discharge, and the N₂⁺ density is above 8 times than the N⁺ density in the micro hollow cathode discharge.

Key words: Nitrogen plasma, Micro hollow cathode discharge, Particle-in-cell, Monte Carlo method

摘要： 开发了氮空心阴极放电PIC/MC二维自洽模型。研究了N₂传统空心阴极向微空心阴极放电转变过程中电势和电场的变化。结果表明，不同尺寸的空心阴极放电的电势及电场分布规律几乎类似，但空心阴极孔径减小且气压增加时，电场近似线性增加；典型微空心阴极电场比传统空心阴极放电电场约大3个量级；微空心阴极放电产生的电子，氮分子离子和氮原子离子的密度比传统空心阴极放电约大3个量级，且微空心阴极放电中，N₂⁺密度比N⁺密度大8倍以上。

关键词: 氮气等离子体, 微空心阴极放电, 粒子模拟, 蒙特卡罗模型