Achieving large-scale kinetic modeling is a crucial task for the development and optimization of modern plasma devices. With the trend of decreasing pressure in applications, such as plasma etching, kinetic simulations are necessary to self-consistently capture the particle dynamics. The standard, explicit, electrostatic, momentum-conserving particle-in-cell method suffers from restrictive stability constraints on spatial cell size and temporal time step, requiring resolution of the electron Debye length and electron plasma period, respectively. This results in a very high computational cost, making the technique prohibitive for large volume device modeling. We investigate the direct implicit algorithm and the explicit energy conserving algorithm as alternatives to the standard approach, both of which can reduce computational cost with a minimal (or controllable) impact on results. These algorithms are implemented into the well-tested EDIPIC-2D and LTP-PIC codes, and their performance is evaluated via 2D capacitively coupled plasma discharge simulations. The investigation reveals that both approaches enable the utilization of cell sizes larger than the Debye length, resulting in a reduced runtime, while incurring only minor inaccuracies in plasma parameters. The direct implicit method also allows for time steps larger than the electron plasma period; however, care must be taken to avoid numerical heating or cooling. It is demonstrated that by appropriately adjusting the ratio of cell size to time step, it is possible to mitigate this effect to an acceptable level.
Skip Nav Destination
Direct implicit and explicit energy-conserving particle-in-cell methods for modeling of capacitively coupled plasma devices
Article navigation
October 2023
Research Article|
October 26 2023
Direct implicit and explicit energy-conserving particle-in-cell methods for modeling of capacitively coupled plasma devices
Special Collection:
Plasma Sources for Advanced Semiconductor Applications
Haomin Sun
;
Haomin Sun
a)
(Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
1
Swiss Plasma Center (SPC), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: haomin.sun@epfl.ch and sarvesh@ipr.res.in/sarvsarvesh@gmail.com
Search for other works by this author on:
Soham Banerjee
;
Soham Banerjee
(Data curation, Formal analysis, Validation)
2
Birla Institute of Technology and Science
, Pilani 333031, India
Search for other works by this author on:
Sarveshwar Sharma
;
Sarveshwar Sharma
a)
(Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – review & editing)
3
Institute for Plasma Research
, Bhat, Gandhinagar 382428, India
4
Homi Bhabha National Institute
, Anushaktinagar, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400094, India
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: haomin.sun@epfl.ch and sarvesh@ipr.res.in/sarvsarvesh@gmail.com
Search for other works by this author on:
Andrew Tasman Powis
;
Andrew Tasman Powis
(Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
5
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University
, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, USA
Search for other works by this author on:
Alexander V. Khrabrov
;
Alexander V. Khrabrov
(Methodology, Writing – original draft)
5
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University
, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, USA
Search for other works by this author on:
Dmytro Sydorenko;
Dmytro Sydorenko
(Methodology)
6
University of Alberta
, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E1, Canada
Search for other works by this author on:
Jian Chen
;
Jian Chen
(Writing – review & editing)
7
Sino-French Institute of Nuclear Engineering and Technology, Sun Yat-sen University
, Zhuhai 519082, People's Republic of China
Search for other works by this author on:
Igor D. Kaganovich
Igor D. Kaganovich
(Funding acquisition, Supervision)
5
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University
, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, USA
Search for other works by this author on:
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: haomin.sun@epfl.ch and sarvesh@ipr.res.in/sarvsarvesh@gmail.com
Phys. Plasmas 30, 103509 (2023)
Article history
Received:
June 06 2023
Accepted:
September 21 2023
Citation
Haomin Sun, Soham Banerjee, Sarveshwar Sharma, Andrew Tasman Powis, Alexander V. Khrabrov, Dmytro Sydorenko, Jian Chen, Igor D. Kaganovich; Direct implicit and explicit energy-conserving particle-in-cell methods for modeling of capacitively coupled plasma devices. Phys. Plasmas 1 October 2023; 30 (10): 103509. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0160853
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Sign in via your Institution
Sign in via your InstitutionPay-Per-View Access
$40.00