Radio-frequency electronegative gas discharge behaviour in a parallel-plate reactor for material processing

In this paper, a second-order continuum model for radio-frequency glow discharge plasma between parallel-plate electrodes is presented. Simulations have been performed for discharges in argon and O 2. The basic data needed for different collision processes are explicitly given with a high degree of accuracy. These data are rigorously calculated by using a multiterm Boltzmann equation solution for electrons and a Monte Carlo simulation technique for ions. The specificity of the present work is the use of a second-order fluid model solved by using a powerful finite-element scheme associated with basic data rigorously calculated. Detailed results for two types of discharge are presented and contrasted. The phenomena associated with the transition of the discharge into different operating regimes at relatively low and high pressures are demonstrated and discussed.