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Title: The effect of secondary electrons on the separate control of ion energy and flux in dual-frequency capacitively coupled radio frequency discharges

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3481427· OSTI ID:21466900
; ;  [1];  [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Research Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 49, H-1525 Budapest (Hungary)
  2. Institute for Plasma and Atomic Physics, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44801 Bochum (Germany)

Dual-frequency capacitive discharges are used to separately control the mean ion energy, {epsilon}{sub ion}, and flux, {Gamma}{sub ion}, at the electrodes. We study the effect of secondary electrons on this separate control in argon discharges driven at 2+27 MHz at different pressures using Particle in Cell simulations. For secondary yield {gamma}{approx_equal}0, {Gamma}{sub ion} decreases as a function of the low frequency voltage amplitude due to the frequency coupling, while it increases at high {gamma} due to the effective multiplication of secondary electrons inside the sheaths. Therefore, separate control is strongly limited. {epsilon}{sub ion} increases with {gamma}, which might allow an in situ determination of {gamma}-coefficients.

OSTI ID:
21466900
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 97, Issue 8; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3481427; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English