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FIZIKA A 17 (2008) 1 , 35-50
 
MONTE CARLO SIMULATION OF RADIO FREQUENCY PLASMAS IN O2
L. SETTAOUTI and A. SETTAOUTI
Electrotechnic Department, University of Sciences and Technology, P. O. Box.
1505, El-M'naouar, Oran, Algeria
Received 21 February 2007; Revised manuscript received 19 May 2008
Accepted 19 September 2008 Online 25 September 2008
The use of radio frequency (RF) driven discharges in many fields, including
material processing, microelectronics and aerospace industry, necessitates
development of effective numerical predictive tools to understand and design
their behaviour. The structure of RF discharges in O2 is examined for
the electrons, positive and negative ions, where electron-neutral collisions and
ion-neutral collisions are taken into consideration. Some detailed properties of
radio frequency plasmas are presented using Monte Carlo simulation. The
simulation results show that most of the RF external electric field is absorbed
in the sheath regions. Whereas electrons respond easily to the oscillating RF
electric field, ions cannot oscillate with the RF electric field. The
oscillations of the electron cloud determine the instantaneous sheath thickness
near each electrode. The mean energy and the density of charged particles are
also discussed, and the effects of gas pressure on discharge parameters are
studied.
PACS numbers: 52.20.-j, 52.25.-b, 52.65.-y
UDC 533.95, 535.352
Keywords: Monte Carlo simulation, plasma, radio frequency, sheath, collision
cross sections
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