射频等离子体鞘层动力学模型

在流体力学方程的基础上建立了一种自洽的无碰撞射频等离子体鞘层动力学模型.这种自洽性包含两个方面:一方面,由于考虑了瞬时鞘层电场对离子运动的影响,因此该模型适用于描述任意频率段的射频鞘层演化过程;另一方面,在模型中采用等效电路方法来自洽地确定极板上的瞬时电位与瞬时鞘层厚度之间的关系.采用数值方法模拟出鞘层的瞬时厚度及极板的瞬时电位变化、鞘层内离子密度和电场强度等物理量的时空变化.结果表明,当射频场的频率小于或等于离子等离子体频率时,离子流密度明显地随时间变化 关键词： 射频 离子 鞘层 流体力学     

Two-dimensional particle-in-cell plasma source ion implantation of a prolate spheroid target

A two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation is used to study the time-dependent evolution of the sheath surrounding a prolate spheroid target during a high voltage pulse in plasma source ion implantation. Our study shows that the potential contour lines pack more closely in the plasma sheath near the vertex of the major axis, i.e. where a thinner sheath is formed, and a non-uniform total ion dose distribution is incident along the surface of the prolate spheroid target due to the focusing of ions by the potential structure. Ion focusing takes place not only at the vertex of the major axis, where dense potential contour lines exist, but also at the vertex of the minor axis, where sparse contour lines exist. This results in two peaks of the received ion dose, locating at the vertices of the major and minor axes of the prolate spheroid target, and an ion dose valley, staying always between the vertices, rather than at the vertex of the minor axis.     

Influence of the inverse sheath on divertor plasma performance in tokamak edge plasma simulations

Recently, it was shown that strong electron thermionic emission from material walls could result in the formation of an “inverse sheath,” which prevents the flow of cold ions to the wall.^[1–3] Such regimes look very favourably from the point of view of plasma–material interactions at the edge of magnetic fusion devices, where the problem of the erosion of plasma-facing components under ion irradiation is one of the key issues for the development of future magnetic fusion reactors. However, it is not clear whether such regimes are compatible with edge plasma parameters and heat removal requirements in fusion reactors. To address the issue of practicality of the “inverse sheath” regime for edge tokamak plasma conditions, we perform a set of numerical simulations with 2D edge plasma transport code UEDGE^[4] for a DIII-D-like geometry and magnetic configuration. To describe both “standard” and “inverse sheath” conditions within the framework of the UEDGE code (which does not consider the sheath region per se), at the material surfaces, we apply effective boundary conditions that emulate both “standard” and “inverse sheath” regimes. We demonstrate that, for the same input parameters, spatial distributions of edge plasma parameters corresponding to detached divertor and “inverse sheath” regimes are similar, with only a few minor differences. We discuss the compatibility of “inverse sheath” regimes with core plasma parameters.     

Variations of Plasma Parameters and Sheath Thickness Due to the Extraction of Ion and Electron Flux in a Double Plasma Device

Influence of charged particle extraction on plasma parameters and on ion sheath has been investigated in a double plasma device. When ions are extracted from the plasma, the plasma density as well as the positive ion flux into the sheath increases. As a result a sheath contraction takes place. Again, in case of electron extraction, it is found that the plasma density as well as the positive ion flux into the sheath decreases. As a result a sheath expansion takes place. Furthermore, it is observed that the floating potential of a plate can be controlled by extracting charged particles from the plasma. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Determination of sheath parameters by test particles upon local electrode bias and plasma switching

Equilibrating gravitation by electric forces, microparticles can be confined in the plasma sheath above suitably biased local electrodes. Their position depends on the detailed structure of the plasma sheath and on the charge that the particles acquire in the surrounding plasma, that is by the electron and ion currents towards it. Bias switching experiments reveal how the charge and equilibrium position of the microparticle change upon altered sheath conditions. Above a critical bias, the particle is subject to an additional downward acceleration that cannot be explained solely by gravity and ion drag. This acceleration can be attributed to a positive charging of the particle induced by extreme out-of-equilibrium conditions of the plasma sheath in its surroundings: locally the plasma sheath can be completely deprived of electrons by means of the bias. We observe similar particle behaviors also in the afterglow of the discharge for a persisting bias voltage on the electrode: damped oscillation into a new equilibrium or (accelerated) fall according to the bias. The observed particle dynamics in locally tailored plasma sheath environments directly monitors changes in electric field structures and plasma density profiles.     

脉冲偏压上升沿特性对等离子体浸没离子注入鞘层扩展动力学的影响

等离子体浸没离子注入(PIII)是用于材料表面改性的一种廉价高效、非视线的技术.采用等离子体粒子模型，通过假设电子密度服从Boltzmann分布，求解Poisson方程和Newton方程，跟踪离子在等离子体鞘层中的运动形态及特性并进行统计分析，研究了不同上升速率和形状的6种波形上升沿对鞘层时空演化、离子注入能量和剂量的影响.结果表明，在PIII过程中，脉冲上升沿影响了等离子体鞘层的扩展，且不同波形诱导的鞘层厚度间存在最大差值.电场强度在鞘层的外边缘区域存在陡降区，离子的运动为非匀加速过程.可以通过调整脉冲 关键词： 等离子体浸没离子注入 鞘层 粒子模型 上升沿     

ANALYSIS OF DUAL FREQUENCY CONFINED CAPACITIVELY COUPLED PLASMA AT LOW POWER

Confined dual frequency hydrogen plasma discharge has been investigated with microwave interferometer method and radial profiles are taken by Abel inversion technique. Dual radio-frequency sources, operating at 27.12MHz and 1.94MHz, are coupled to each other through the plasma. 27.12MHz RF power is used to enhance plasma density and 1.94MHz power is used to enhance ion acceleration energy to the electrode. Radial density profiles has been taken for comparing the effects of low frequency source that the secondary RF source causes reduction in plasma density due to the sheath expansion. Instead radial density profile is assumed as flat by most of the models, there is about 2.5eV of potential drop occurs from centre to boundary at 40W of primary source power. It has been observed that increasing sheath width (increasing the secondary source power to primary source power) reduces the bulk plasma volume and makes potential profile flattening in y direction. While the high frequency power is dissipated by electrons in the bulk plasma; low frequency power is mostly dissipated by ions in the sheath region. Using both high and low frequency power, we may control plasma density and ion acceleration energy to the electrode simultaneously.     

Comparison of the directional characteristics of swift ion excitation for two small biomolecules: glycine and alanine

The characteristics of ions that enter the plasma sheath with an oblique incident angle have been investigated in the presence of an external magnetic field. The ion dynamics in a collisional and collisionless magnetized plasma sheath have been numerically calculated by using a fluid model. Several values for the ion velocity at the sheath edge, orientation and strength of the magnetic field and the ion-neutral collision frequency have been considered. The results show that in a collisionless magnetized plasma sheath, the behaviour of ions that obliquely enter the sheath with some specific velocities at the sheath edge and at some specific orientations and strengths of magnetic field, is more complicated than that of ions with normal entrance angles. For the oblique entrance of ions, the weak magnetic fields cause some fluctuations in ion velocity around its boundary value, i.e. the ion velocity does not accelerate. However, the numerical calculations show that the ion dynamics in a collisional magnetized plasma sheath are the same for both normal and inclined entrance of ions into the sheath.     

One-dimensional hybrid simulation of the electrical asymmetry effect caused by the fourth-order harmonic in dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasma

A one-dimensional hybrid model was developed to study the electrical asymmetry effect(EAE) caused by the fourthorder harmonic in a dual-frequency capacitively coupled Ar plasma.The self-bias voltage caused by the fourth-order frequency changes periodically with the phase angle,and the cycle of self-bias with the phase angle is π/2,which is half of that in the second-order case.The influence of the phase angle between the fundamental and its fourth-order frequency on the ion density profiles and the ion energy distributions(IEDs) were studied.Both the ion density profile and the IEDs can be controlled by the phase angle,which provides a convenient way to adjust the sheath characters without changing the main discharge parameters.     

Nonlinear dynamics of radio frequency plasma processing reactorspowered by multifrequency sources

The source frequency has a strong influence on plasma characteristics in RF discharges. Multiple sources at widely different frequencies are often simultaneously used to separately optimize the magnitude and energy of ion fluxes to the substrate. In doing so, the sources are relatively independent of each other. These sources can, however, nonlinearly interact if the frequencies are sufficiently close. The resulting plasma and electrical characteristics can then be significantly different from those due to the sum of the individual sources. In this paper, a plasma equipment model is used to investigate the interaction of multiple frequency sources in capacitively and inductively coupled RF excited plasmas. In capacitively coupled systems, we confirmed that the plasma density increases with increasing frequency but also found that the magnitude of the DC bias and DC sheath voltage decreases. To produce a capacitively coupled discharge having a high plasma density with a large DC bias, we combined low and high frequency sources. The plasma density did increase using the dual frequency system as compared to the single low frequency source. The sources, however, nonlinearly interacted at the grounded wall sheath, thereby shifting both the plasma potential and DC bias. In inductively coupled plasmas (ICP), the frequency of the capacitive substrate bias does not have a significant effect on electron temperature and density. The DC bias and DC sheath voltage at the substrate were, however, found to strongly depend on source frequency. By using additional RF sources at alternate locations in ICP reactors, it was found that the DC bias at the substrate was varied without significantly changing other plasma parameters, such as the substrate sheath potential     

Effect of the dynamical collision frequency on quantum wakefields

Previous papers on the quantum wakefield around an ion moving in a dense plasma have considered the collision frequency in the static approximation. In this work, we present the results of the dynamically screened ion potential taking into account the dynamical electron–ion collision frequency. The Lenard–Balescu dynamical collision frequency and various approximations to it are considered. As a main result of our investigation for the subsonic, sonic, and supersonic regimes, we find that the frequency dependence of collisions can be safely discarded if the electronic streaming velocity (relative to an ion) is comparable to or less than the electronic Fermi velocity.     

Sheath-wave-related resonances in the frequency response of acylindrical monopole in a plasma

Reference is made to a floating or negatively biased antenna immersed in a plasma that is surrounded by an ion sheath. Such an antenna-sheath-plasma system may support slow surface waves at driving frequencies below the electron plasma frequency. Resonances associated with these so-called sheath waves are observed at certain frequencies in the antenna's response to an applied sinusoidal signal. An experimental study of these resonances is presented for a short cylindrical monopole in a low-pressure isotropic argon plasma. The effect on the resonance frequencies of a DC bias applied to the antenna and of plasma density and antenna length was investigated. From the experimental data, the relationship between sheath thickness and antenna potential, and the frequency dependence of the antenna admittance could be derived     

聚合物物理属性对离子注入效应的影响

聚合物导电性能差, 表面电荷积聚所产生的电容效应致使其表面电位衰减, 采用等离子体浸没离子注入对其表面改性是非常困难的. 建立了绝缘材料等离子体浸没离子注入过程的粒子模拟(PIC)模型, 实时跟踪离子在等离子体鞘层中的运动形态及特性并进行统计分析. 并基于PIC模型, 将聚合物表面的二次电子发射系数直接与离子注入即时能量建立关联, 研究了聚合物厚度、介电常数和二次电子发射系数等物理量对鞘层演化、离子注入能量和剂量的影响规律. 研究结果表明: 当聚合物厚度小于200 μ m, 相对介电常数大于7, 二次电子发射系数小于0.5时, 离子注入剂量和高能离子所占的份额与导体离子注入情况相当. 通过对聚合物表面离子注入剂量和高能离子所占份额的研究, 为绝缘材料和半导体材料表面等离子体浸没离子注入的实现提供了理论和实验依据.     

Reactor modeling of magnetically enhanced capacitive RF discharge

Magnetic and collisional effects on capacitive radio frequency (RF) discharges for magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching (MERIE) are investigated. Using simplified plasma and sheath models, a collisional magnetic-sheath equation that governs the sheath dynamics under a de magnetic field crossed with a sinusoidal RF electric field is obtained. The sheath equation includes global effects of the bulk plasma. Together with the power-balance equation and the particle-conservation equation, the sheath equation is used to extract a circuit model and predict the electrical behavior of MERIE reactors. Numerical results on the plasma density and the power in MERIE reactors agree well with reported experimental results and the circuit model describes the repeated discharge properties well     

The effects of ion-neutral collision frequency on the plasma sheath dynamics for oblique entrance of ions into the sheath

Recently it has been shown that the magnetic field has significant effects on the characteristics of ions which enter the collisionless plasma sheath with an oblique incidence angle. Here, we have investigated these effects in collisional plasma sheath. Considering the ion-neutral collision, the basic equations of fluid model in a plasma sheath have been numerically solved in the presence of an external magnetic field where the ion collision frequency has a power law dependency to the ion flow velocity. The results show that the effects of magnetic field on the plasma sheath dynamics strongly depend on the ion-neutral collision frequency and its dependency to ion flow velocity.     

负偏压离子鞘及气体压强影响表面波放电过程的粒子模拟

由于表面电磁波沿着介质-等离子体分界面传播,而很难通过对传统的表面波等离子体(SWP)源施加负偏压实现金属材料溅射,因此限制了SWP源的使用范围.近期,一种基于负偏压离子鞘导波的SWP源克服了这个问题,且其加热机理是表面等离激元(SPP)的局域增强电场激励气体放电产生.但是该SWP源放电过程的影响因素并未研究清晰,导致其最佳放电条件没有获得.本文采用粒子(PIC)和蒙特卡罗碰撞(MCC)相结合的模拟方法,探讨了负偏压离子鞘及气体压强影响SWP电离发展过程的放电机理.模拟结果表明,负偏压和气体压强的大小影响了离子鞘的厚度、SPP的激励和波模的时空转化,从而表现出不同的放电形貌.进一步分析确定,在负偏压200 V左右和气体压强40 Pa附近,该SWP源的放电效果最佳.     

The space-time-averaging procedure and modeling of the RF discharge

An approach to modeling RF discharges and the ensuing analysis of fast electron and ion motions for the case of electrode sheaths in the high-pressure RF discharge is discussed. Time-averaging over fast electron motions with the applied voltage frequency gives analytic expressions for the average electric field and average ionization density. The resulting relatively simple equations for the ion density profile describe drift, diffusion, ionization, and recombination processes. The simple scaling rules, the approximate expressions for the density profile in various regions, the sheath length, the ion density at the plasma-sheath boundary, and the dimensionless criteria for various discharge regimes can be deduced. For the non-self-sustained discharge, it is demonstrated that the ion drag towards the electrode and the diffusion results in significant lowering of the ion density in the sheath compared with the positive column at not too high a pressure. The analytic transition criterion from α to γ forms of the self-sustained discharge is obtained. The numerical solution of the averaged ion equations yields the results which nearly coincide with the results of full-scale modeling     

Sheath thickness evaluation for collisionless or weakly collisionalbounded plasmas

The widely used Child-Langmuir law for sheath thickness evaluation in semi-infinite collisionless plasmas makes the assumptions of quasi-neutrality (n_e=n_i) and zero electric field intensity E=0 at the sheath edge, as well as applying the Bohm criterion for ions entering the sheath. However, through a whole region fluid model, Poisson's equation has been solved numerically for the steady-state solution through the sheath and presheath without these assumptions. With the sheath edge defined, as in the Child-Langmuir law, at the place where the ion velocity is equal to the Bohm velocity, the sheath thickness of a bounded collisionless or weakly collisional plasma has been found with this model in some cases to be much larger than that obtained with the Child-Langmuir Law. The sheath thickness discrepancy is significant under conditions found in low pressure high density plasma (HDP) tools for plasma processing. Results presented indicate that the sheath thickness is very sensitive to the electric field and space charge density at the sheath edge. The electric field and space charge density can be successfully estimated by an intermediate scale matching method, and are used to derive a modified expression for the potential in the sheath that can be solved numerically for sheath thickness. With these results, the matching problem, arising when sheath and plasma are modeled separately, can be overcome     

Effect of Discharge Voltage on an Ion Sheath Formed at a Grid in a Multi-Dipole Discharge Plasma

It is experimentally demonstrated that a relatively strong ion-rich sheath formed at a fixed negative bias of the grid can be changed to a rather weak ion sheath （sheath potential weakly retards electrons） only by increasing the discharge voltage in the system. At sufficiently high negative grid bias, an increase of discharge voltage enhances the ion collection current at the grid. An explanation is put forward in support of this experimental observation. A slight density enhancement with a fall in plasma electron temperature is also observed with the increasing negative grid bias.     

Hot Ion Production in a Modified Penning Discharge

Ions with Maxwellian energy distributions and kinetic temperatures up to seven keV have been observed in a modified Penning discharge. Investigation of the plasma revealed two distinct spoke-like concentrations of charge, consisting respectively of ions and electrons, rotating with different velocities in the sheath between the plasma and the anode ring. Theoretical expressions are derived for the frequency of the ion and electron spoke rotation, for the ion kinetic temperature resulting from the ion spoke velocity, and for the ion heating efficiency. An extensive series of experimental measurements were made to check these theoretical expressions, and approximate agreement was obtained. It is shown that the ion kinetic temperature in the modified Penning discharge scales according to the relation Vi ~ Vani1/4/B1/2 where Va is the applied anode voltage, ni is the ion density in the sheath, and B is the magnetic field strength. The observed data demonstrate that the ion heating efficiency can be as high as several tens of percent.