Collisional Decomposition of SF6

Published

September 1, 2000

Author(s)

R. Champion, I. V. Dyakov, Yicheng Wang

Abstract

Insulating gas mixtures containing SF₆ have been promoted to serve as replacements for pure SF₆ in order to reduce SF₆ atmospheric emission. It has been argued that some synergism may be achieved by choosing proper buffer gases in mixtures with SF₆ such that the buffer gases efficiently slow down electrons into an energy range where the electron attachment cross section for SF₆ is large. A complete understanding of the dielectric properties of SF₆ mixtures obviously requires information about electron detachment from SF₆- as collisional electron detachment may be the principal source of discharge initiation in SF₆ mixtures. In this paper, we report total cross section measurements for electron detachment and collision induced dissociation for collisions of SF₆- with N₂ and other proposed admixture gases for collision energies ranging up to a few hundred eV. The experimental results are analyzed using a two-step collision model where the unimolecular decomposition of collisionally excited SF₆- ions is described in a statistical framework.

Proceedings Title

Proc. XIII International Conference on Gas Discharges and Their Applications

Conference Dates

September 3-8, 2000

Conference Location

Glasgow, 1, UK

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

anion, collision, decomposition, electron detachment, SF₆, sulfur hexafluoride

Citation

Champion, R. , Dyakov, I. and Wang, Y. (2000), Collisional Decomposition of SF₆, Proc. XIII International Conference on Gas Discharges and Their Applications, Glasgow, 1, UK, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=26344 (Accessed October 9, 2025)