Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Solving the Boltzmann equation in a 2-D-configuration and 2-D-velocity space for capacitively coupled RF discharges

Journal Article · · IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/27.467987· OSTI ID:118912
; ;  [1];  [2]
  1. Auburn Univ., AL (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering
  2. National High-Performance Computing Center, Hsinchu (Taiwan, Province of China)

A new kinetic scheme, the generalized Monte Carlo flux (GMCF) method, provides the electron particle distribution function in phase space, f(v, {mu}, r, z, t) (v: speed, {mu}: velocity angle, r: radial position, z: axial position, and t: time), for solving the Boltzmann equation in modeling capacitively coupled RF discharges. For a simulation with spatial- and temporal-varying fields in RF discharges, the GMCF method handles the collision terms of the Boltzmann equation by using one transition matrix to compute the collision transition between velocity space cells. An anti-diffusion flux transport scheme is developed to overcome the numerical diffusion in the velocity and configuration spaces. The major advantages of the GMCF method are the increase in resolution in the tail of distribution functions and the decrease of computation time. The GMCF calculation results in terms of microscopic electron distribution function and macroscopic quantities of density, electric field and ionization rate, are presented for RF discharges and compared with other kinetic and fluid simulation and experimental results. The effects of the induced radial electric field in the sheath close to the radial wall in a cylindrically symmetric parallel-plate geometry are discussed.

OSTI ID:
118912
Journal Information:
IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 23; ISSN ITPSBD; ISSN 0093-3813
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Accelerated solution of the Boltzmann equation
Journal Article · Sat May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993 · Journal of Computational Physics; (United States) · OSTI ID:5200512

Separation-of-variables approximation to the Boltzmann equation
Journal Article · Mon Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 1991 · Physical Review, A; (United States) · OSTI ID:5587889

A new scheme for solving inhomogeneous Boltzmann equation for electrons in weakly ionised gases
Conference · Sat Dec 30 23:00:00 EST 1995 · OSTI ID:213018