Plasma sheath physics: a circuital description, amelioration, and application

A synoptic review of the electrical circuital model-based analysis of laboratory plasma sheaths, alongside their stability features in a realistic broader horizon, is systematically presented herein. It explains the basic physics responsible behind the inductive (\(L_{sh}\)), capacitive (\(C_{sh}\)), and resistive (\(R_{sh}\)) properties simultaneously, exhibited by plasma sheaths. The analyzed model sheath behaviors are judiciously described in the light of the state-of-the-art sheath scenarios illustratively. The sheath-based circuital components are minutely contrasted with the commercially available circuital counterparts. The applications of the novel circuital sheath model in widespread fields of research having both fundamental and applied importance are discussed. The main merits of modeling plasma sheaths through the circuital formalism over the existing non-circuital theoretic ones are outlined together with future scope.

Graphical abstract