Monte Carlo treatment of the transport of electrons in a gas including electron-electron interactions

A technique allowing electron-electron collisions to be included together with the electron–neutral-species (atom or molecule) collisions in a Monte Carlo simulation is developed for the case of a weakly ionized gas (ionization degree lower than ${10}^{\mathrm{-}4}$). The validity of this technique is checked by studying the evolution over time of a set of electrons (in an infinite medium) assuming that they collide only between each other. The space variation of the electron energy distribution function and some mean swarm parameters are calculated for a steady-state discharge established between two plane-parallel electrodes. The importance and the effect of the electron-electron collisions in argon are discussed and interpreted for two situations depending on the electron density at the cathode.