Influences of electrode configurations in dual capacitively coupled radio frequency glow discharge plasma B Bora

Abstract

Capacitively coupled radio frequency (CCRF) glow discharge plasma is widely studied in the laboratory because of its simpler design and high efficiency for different material processing applications such as thin-film deposition, plasma etching, sputtering of insulating materials etc. A negative dc potential develops between the bulk plasma and the powered electrodes, which is termed as 'self-bias' in RF plasma. This self-bias is generated as a consequences of the geometrical asymmetry of the electrodes, which can be achieved by appropriately design the area of the powered and the grounded electrodes. However, independent control of the dc self-bias in single frequency CCRF plasma is not possible, since the changing in any operating parameters including geometrical asymmetry will also change the plasma parameters. A study on the dual frequency CCRF plasma could be useful in understanding the separate control of the dc self-bias and plasma density, which respectively determine the ion energy and ion flux. In this work, a dual frequency CCRF plasma have been studied on the basis on nonlinear global model to understand the influences of electrode sizes and proper optimization of the CCRF plasma for specific applications.