Verification of frequency scaling laws for capacitive radio-frequency discharges using two-dimensional simulations*

Abstract

Weakly ionized processing plasmas are studied in two dimensions using a bounded particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation code with a Monte Carlo collision (MCC) package. The MCC package models the collisions between charged and neutral particles, which are needed to obtain a self-sustained plasma and the proper electron and ion energy loss mechanisms. A two-dimensional capacitive radio-frequency (rf) discharge is investigated in detail. Simple frequency scaling laws for predicting the behavior of some plasma parameters are derived and then compared with simulation results, finding good agreements. It is found that as the drive frequency increases, the sheath width decreases, and the bulk plasma becomes more uniform, leading to a reduction of the ion angular spread at the target and an improvement of ion dose uniformity at the driven electrode.