A two-dimensional simulation of a capacitively-coupled parallel-plate RF discharge using a hybrid fluid-Monte Carlo method

Summary form only given, as follows. A 2-D fluid-Monte Carlo hybrid model has been used to simulate a capacitively coupled parallel-plate RF discharge. The 2-D model assumes azimuthal symmetry and accounts for a ground shield about the electrodes as well as grounded chamber walls. The hybrid model consists of a Monte Carlo method for generating rates and a fluid model for transporting electrons and ions. In the fluid model, the electrons are transported using a continuity equation; and the electric fields are solved self-consistently using Poisson´s equation. The Monte Carlo model transports electrons using the fluid-generated periodic electric field. The ionization rates are then obtained using the electron energy distribution function. An averaging method is used to speed up the solution by transporting the ions in a time-averaged electric field with a corrected ambipolar-type diffusion. The simulation switches between the conventional and the averaging fluid model. Typically, the simulation runs from 10´s to 100´s of averaging fluid cycles before reentering the conventional fluid model for 10´s of cycles. Speed increases of a factor of 100 are possible.