Eur. Phys. J. D 54, 417-423 (2009)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2009-00122-9

Computational study of plasma-surface interaction in plasma-assisted technologies

Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Department of Surface and Plasma Science, V Holešovičkách 2, 180 00 Prague, Czech Republic

Corresponding author: ^a rudolf.hrach@mff.cuni.cz

Received: 15 September 2008
Revised: 21 January 2009
Published online: 28 April 2009

Abstract

The influence of the unevenness of substrates immersed into plasma important for plasma-based treatment of materials were studied by computer experiment. The role of both substrate properties and plasma parameters was investigated. For this analysis the combination of multidimensional fluid modelling and particle simulation was used. The fluid part of our model consisted of continuity equations for all charged species, energy balance equation for electrons and Poisson equation. The basic scattering processes were also included. The particle simulation technique was used both for the calculation of electron energy distribution function and for the derivation of quantities characterising plasma-surface interaction. This approach enabled us to study in detail the structure of the sheath and presheath near metal substrates with realistic geometries and finite dimensions. The main attention was devoted to the influence of substrate geometry in both macroscopic and microscopic spatial scales on the local electric fields in plasma.