This study investigates the time required for the stabilization of the sheath of a cylindrical Langmuir probe as a function of background pressure using a 2D3V particle model of low-temperature plasma under an external electric field. We present an algorithm for the characterization of the sheath radius and calculate the transition time of the sheath radius after a sudden change of the probe potential. The observed transition times in collisional plasmas are well described by a model based on the ion mobility. In general, the sheath radius stabilizes at a rate that is faster than or equal to the rate of probe current stabilization. The radius of the sheath potential expands up to twice during the stabilization.
Palacký et al. (Fri,) studied this question.