Kinetic modeling of the Townsend breakdown in argon

Kinetic modeling of the Townsend breakdown in argon was performed in the "forward-back" approximation. The kinetic model was found to adequately describe the left branch of the Paschen curve, and the important role of ionization by fast ions and atoms near the cathode, as well as the increase in secondary emission coefficient in strong electric fields described in the literature, was confirmed. The modeling also showed that the electron energy distribution function develops a beam of high-energy electrons and that the runaway effect, i.e., the monotonic increase of the mean electron energy with the distance from the cathode, occurs at the left branch of the Paschen curve.