Computer Simulations for Processing Plasmas

Abstract

Summary: In this paper, some of our modeling efforts for processing plasmas are presented. We make use of fluid models or particle‐in‐cell–Monte Carlo (PIC‐MC) simulations for the plasma behavior, depending on the application. Fluid models are most suitable to describe the detailed plasma chemistry, like the formation and growth of nanoparticles in so‐called dusty plasmas, and for dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) at atmospheric pressure. PIC‐MC simulations are the best choice to describe magnetron discharges, operating at low pressure, and for dealing with the plasma dynamics in single‐ and dual‐frequency rf discharges. Finally, we also apply molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for plasma‐surface interaction, more specifically for the plasma deposition of diamond‐like carbon (DLC) films.

Recent advances in the understanding of homogeneous dielectric barrier discharges

“…When the scientific community has been convinced of the homogeneous DBD robustness, more and more teams, often driven by applications, have begun to work on these discharges. Consequently, over the last decade, these discharges have been intensively studied, finding new configurations which help the discharge stabilisation [29,30,31], increasing our knowledge on the discharge physics and chemistry [32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46], and showing the advantage of high (atmospheric) pressure operation with (i) high degree of discharge uniformity over cm length scales and (ii) thermal and chemical non-equilibrium. Numerous new applications including thin film deposition [18,19,20,21,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59], bio-decontamination [26,60,61,62,63,64,65], and aerodynamic flow control [28,66,…”

A hybrid model for simulation of secondary electron emission in plasma immersion ion implantation under different pulse rise time

“…39,40 Hence, it cannot be employed to describe the electrons which are accelerated in regions characterized by a strong electric field. 40,45,46 Therefore, in this model, a PiC-MCC approach is used to describe the behavior of the emitted electrons from the cathode while the massive ions and thermal electrons are simulated using the fluid model.…”

“…Hybrid model has been proposed as a method to reduce the computational cost while appropriately describes the non-equilibrium behavior of the plasma species. 39,40,45 In this paper, we utilize a hybrid model to describe the PIII process in the presence of secondary electrons and investigate the plasma parameters associated with secondary electrons under different pulse rise time. We employ a PiC-MCC model for the secondary electrons while a fluid model is used to describe the plasma electrons and ions dynamics.…”

“…PiC-MCC approach can provide a comprehensive and detailed description of the plasma phenomena, despite of the fact that it requires a very long computational time. 39,40 Recently, hybrid approach has been developed as an alternative method to model the plasma phenomena at a reduced computational time compared to the PiC-MCC model. [41][42][43][44] It combines two different simulation methods (e.g., fluid and PiC models) to take the advantages of both the models.…”

Microplasmas: A Review

“…Another popular fluid model utilized for plasma simulations is based on the velocity moments of the Boltzmann transport equation (continuity equations of particle density), usually coupled to Poisson's equation to calculate a self-consistent electric field distribution [67]. The drawback of this model, is that it assumes that the plasma species are more or less in equilibrium with the electric field, which is not always the case, such as in regions of high electric fields as in the cathode fall region of a high pressure glow discharge.…”