Particle-in-Cell/Test-Particle Simulations of Technological Plasmas: Sputtering Transport in Capacitive Radio Frequency Discharges

TL;DR

This paper offers a comprehensive tutorial on using Particle-In-Cell/Test-Particle simulations to model sputtering transport in low-pressure capacitive RF plasmas, emphasizing kinetic modeling and validation of common assumptions.

Contribution

It provides a detailed methodological guide for kinetic simulation of sputtering in plasmas, including validation of typical assumptions used in the field.

Findings

Validation of ion energy distribution assumptions

Assessment of test particle approach validity

Guidelines for kinetic simulation setup

Abstract

The paper provides a tutorial to the conceptual layout of a self-consistently coupled Particle-In-Cell/Test-Particle model for the kinetic simulation of sputtering transport in capacitively coupled plasmas at low gas pressures. It explains when a kinetic approach is actually needed and which numerical concepts allow for the inherent nonequilibrium behavior of the charged and neutral particles. At the example of a generic sputtering discharge both the fundamentals of the applied Monte Carlo methods as well as the conceptual details in the context of the sputtering scenario are elaborated on. Finally, two in the context of sputtering transport simulations often exploited assumptions, namely on the energy distribution of impinging ions as well as on the test particle approach, are validated for the proposed example discharge.