The Ion balance of the oxygen d.c. glow discharge

Abstract
Previously reported measurements of electron energy distribution and ion concentrations in the positive column of an oxygen discharge are used as a basis for discussing the ion equilibrium. The degree of dissociation is shown to be of order 10 % and reasons are advanced for the view that negative ions O$^-$ are destroyed in the gas phase by collision with oxygen atoms. A double-sheath criterion is established for an electronegative plasma applicable to the boundary sheaths of striations in the positive column. The ion densities required to satisfy this criterion are not in general the same as those set up by the combined action of generation by electron impact and wall loss with the result that the positive column is unstable.

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