Numerical studies of RF glow discharge

Abstract

The physical properties of rf glow discharge plasma are numerically studied with two different mathmatical methods-the continuum model and the particle simulation. In the continuum model, the argon plasma and an artificial plasma which contains three charged particle species of electrons, positive and negative ions are numerically experimented, respectively. The model consists of the continuity equations for each particle species and the electron temperature equations, coupled to Poisson``s equation. The mechannism of charged particle formation depends on the electron energy, and it is included in this model. A numerical algorithm based on the finite difference method on nonuniform staggered grids has been developed, and the result describes well the rf discharge physics. The particle simulation describes the transport of charged particle by tracing the motion of each particle with the Newton``s equation of motion. For the calculation of force term in the equation of motion, Poisson``s equation is solved with the help of the particle-in-cell method. When a collision occurs, the motion of electron is determined by Monte-Carlo method. The results of this moehod are similar to those of the continuum model. Also, the validity ranges of two models and the numerical advantages and disadvantates are discussed.