Journal ArticleDOI
A Continuum Model of DC and RF Discharges
David B. Graves,Klavs F. Jensen +1 more
Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
In this paper, a model of direct current (dc) and 13.56-MHz radiofrequency (RF) discharges in a parallel-plate configuration is presented, consisting of equations for electron and ion continuity, Poisson's equation for the self-consistent electric field, and an equation for electron energy.Abstract:
A continuum model of direct current (dc) and 13.56-MHz radio-frequency (RF) discharges in a parallel-plate configuration is presented. The model consists of equations for electron and ion continuity, Poisson's equation for the self-consistent electric field, and an equation for electron energy. The equations are solved for a single set of conditions and a comparison is made between the structure of a dc and a 13.56-MHz RF discharge. One of the major structural differences is the emergence, under RF conditions, of large electron conduction currents in the quasi-neutral region. This results in substantially higher electron heating in the quasi-neutral region and a consequent shift in the peak ionization rate from the cathode sheath to the quasineutral region. In addition, the RF solutions suggest that equivalent circuit models and ambipolar diffusion models are promising ways to simplify predictions of discharge physics. The ultimate goal of this work is to provide an adequate description of the discharge physics so that discharge chemistry can be understood. The latter is essential in predicting the behavior of plasma film etching and deposition reactors used extensively in electronics materials processing.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Solving the Boltzmann equation to obtain electron transport coefficients and rate coefficients for fluid models
G J M Hagelaar,Leanne Pitchford +1 more
TL;DR: The BOLSIG+ solver as mentioned in this paper provides steady-state solutions of the BE for electrons in a uniform electric field, using the classical two-term expansion, and is able to account for different growth models, quasi-stationary and oscillating fields, electron-neutral collisions and electron-electron collisions.
Journal ArticleDOI
Transition between different regimes of rf glow discharges
Ph. Belenguer,Jean-Pierre Boeuf +1 more
TL;DR: A self-consistent fluid model of radio-frequency glow discharges has been used to analyze the existence of two different discharge regimes and of the transition between them, and a realistic description of the electron kinetics has been obtained by considering separately two electron groups representing, respectively, the tail and the bulk of the electrons distribution function.
Journal ArticleDOI
Fluid simulations of glow discharges: Effect of metastable atoms in argon
TL;DR: In this article, a one-dimensional fluid simulation of a 13.56 MHz argon glow discharge including metastable species was performed as an example of a coupled glow discharge/neutral transport reaction system.
Journal ArticleDOI
Particle and fluid simulations of low-temperature plasma discharges: benchmarks and kinetic effects
TL;DR: Fluid, particle-in-cell and hybrid models are the numerical simulation techniques commonly used for simulating low-temperature plasma discharges as mentioned in this paper, which can be used to identify research guidelines, find optimum operating conditions or propose novel designs for performance improvements.
Journal ArticleDOI
Particle simulations of radio-frequency glow discharges
TL;DR: In this paper, particle-in-cell simulations are used to study the structure of radiofrequency glow discharges in helium between parallel-plate electrodes, and the authors have examined a range of conditions and report on a variety of observed phenomena.
References
More filters
Book
Computational Galerkin Methods
TL;DR: For many of the examples given in chapter 1, acceptable accuracy, and often very high accuracy, could be achieved with less than five terms in the trial solution as discussed by the authors, and this was the case for most of the problems in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
Plasma etching—A discussion of mechanisms
J. W. Coburn,Harold F. Winters +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the etching process is discussed in terms of three basic steps: adsorption, product formation, and product desorption with the goal of clarifying the relative importance of these three steps.
Don't suppress the wiggles - they're telling you something
Philip M. Gresho,Robert L. Lee +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the Galerkin finite element method is employed to approximate the solution of certain partial differential equations, and it is argued that there is an important message behind these wiggles and that the appropriate response to it involves a combination of reexamination of the imposed boundary conditions, judicious mesh refinement (via isoparametric elements) in critical areas, and sometimes even admitting that the problem as posed, is just too difficult to solve adequately on an affordable mesh.
Journal ArticleDOI
Calculations of Cathode‐Fall Characteristics
TL;DR: In this article, the authors presented an analysis of the field variation of Townsend's first ionization coefficient and ion mobilities, and the length of the dark space has been obtained from the calculated distribution of light output across the gap and agrees with the cathode-fall distance calculated from the field distribution.
Journal ArticleDOI
The design of plasma etchants
TL;DR: Theory and practice of plasma etching are reviewed in this article, and some unifying principles are extended to explain a large body of experimental data, encompassing more than 20 substrate materials in dozens of etchant gas mixtures.