THE BOHM CRITERION AND SHEATH FORMATION

In the limit of a small Debye length (lambda-D --> 0) the analysis of the plasma boundary layer leads to a two-scale problem of a collision free sheath and of a quasi-neutral presheath. Bohm's criterion expresses a necessary condition for the formation of a stationary sheath in front of a negative absorbing wall. The basic features of the plasma-sheath transition and their relation to the Bohm criterion are discussed and illustrated from a simple cold-ion fluid model. A rigorous kinetic analysis of the vicinity of the sheath edge allows one to generalize Bohm's criterion accounting not only for arbitrary ion and electron distributions, but also for general boundary conditions at the wall. It is shown that the generalized sheath condition is (apart from special exceptions) marginally fulfilled and related to a sheath edge field singularity. Due to this singularity smooth matching of the presheath and sheath solutions requires an additional transition layer. Previous investigations concerning particular problems of the plasma-sheath transition are reviewed in the light of the general relations.