Radio frequency discharge modeling: Moment equations approach

A fluid model based on the three moments of the Boltzmann equation is presented to study rf discharges. With rate constants obtained from a zero-dimensional Boltzmann equation solver, the model is shown to reproduce excitation wave forms seen in experiments. Several other critical features previously reported by particle-in-cell simulations such as mechanisms of heating and relation between electron power deposition and ionization have also been reproduced. A parametric study for a 13.56-MHz argon discharge with varying rf bias and pressure has been used to derive scaling laws for the discharge.