Electron drift velocity in NH3in strong electric fields determined from rf breakdown curves

We report measurements of the breakdown curves of a radio-frequency capacitive discharge in low pressure ammonia. The electron drift velocity was determined from the location of turning points in the breakdown curves in the range of E / p = 42–713 V cm −1 Torr −1 . We compare our results to values calculated from the published cross-sections in the range E / p = 1–5000 V cm −1 Torr −1 and find good agreement.