Modeling of chemical processes in the low pressure capacitive RF discharges in a mixture of Ar/C2H2

TL;DR

This paper presents a hybrid kinetic-fluid model to analyze the effects of adding acetylene to argon in low-pressure RF capacitive discharges, revealing significant changes in plasma properties and potential nanoparticle formation.

Contribution

A novel hybrid modeling approach combining kinetic and fluid descriptions for plasma and plasmochemical processes in Ar/C2H2 discharges.

Findings

Electronegativity of the mixture is about 30%.

Heavy hydrocarbon densities are sufficient for nanoparticle formation.

Injection of 5.8% acetylene significantly alters plasma parameters.

Abstract

We study the properties of a capacitive 13.56 MHz discharge properties with a mixture of Ar/C2H2 taking into account the plasmochemistry and growth of heavy hydrocarbons. A hybrid model was developed to combine the kinetic description for electron motion and the fluid approach for negative and positive ions transport and plasmochemical processes. A significant change of plasma parameters related to injection of 5.8% portion of acetylene in argon was observed and analyzed. We found that the electronegativity of the mixture is about 30%. The densities of negatively and positively charged heavy hydrocarbons are sufficiently large to be precursors for the formation of nanoparticles in the discharge volume.