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Hauptverfasser: Main, Daniel, Jenkins, Thomas G., Theis, Joseph G., Werner, Gregory R., Cary, John R., Lanham, Eve, Veitzer, Seth A., Kruger, Scott E.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.10727
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author Main, Daniel
Jenkins, Thomas G.
Theis, Joseph G.
Werner, Gregory R.
Cary, John R.
Lanham, Eve
Veitzer, Seth A.
Kruger, Scott E.
author_facet Main, Daniel
Jenkins, Thomas G.
Theis, Joseph G.
Werner, Gregory R.
Cary, John R.
Lanham, Eve
Veitzer, Seth A.
Kruger, Scott E.
contents We present results from a fully kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation of direct current magnetron sputtering (dcMS) in a 2D cylindrically symmetric geometry. The particle-in-cell model assumes an electrostatic approximation and includes the Monte Carlo collision (MCC) method to model collisions between electrons and the neutral gas. A newly-implemented explicit energy-conserving PIC algorithm (EC-PIC) is also exercised by the model and results are compared with the standard momentum conserving PIC (MC-PIC) method. We use these simulation tools to examine how changes in secondary electron yield (SEY) and the external circuit impact the steady-state current, voltage, and plasma density of dcMS discharges. We show that in general, higher SEY and lower external resistance values lead to larger currents, smaller voltages, and larger plasma densities. We demonstrate that EC-PIC is superior to MC-PIC as the plasma current and density increase due to the improved numerical stability provided by EC-PIC.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_10727
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Modeling the Role of Secondary Electron Emission in Direct Current Magnetron Sputtering using Explicit Energy-Conserving Particle-in-Cell Methods
Main, Daniel
Jenkins, Thomas G.
Theis, Joseph G.
Werner, Gregory R.
Cary, John R.
Lanham, Eve
Veitzer, Seth A.
Kruger, Scott E.
Plasma Physics
We present results from a fully kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation of direct current magnetron sputtering (dcMS) in a 2D cylindrically symmetric geometry. The particle-in-cell model assumes an electrostatic approximation and includes the Monte Carlo collision (MCC) method to model collisions between electrons and the neutral gas. A newly-implemented explicit energy-conserving PIC algorithm (EC-PIC) is also exercised by the model and results are compared with the standard momentum conserving PIC (MC-PIC) method. We use these simulation tools to examine how changes in secondary electron yield (SEY) and the external circuit impact the steady-state current, voltage, and plasma density of dcMS discharges. We show that in general, higher SEY and lower external resistance values lead to larger currents, smaller voltages, and larger plasma densities. We demonstrate that EC-PIC is superior to MC-PIC as the plasma current and density increase due to the improved numerical stability provided by EC-PIC.
title Modeling the Role of Secondary Electron Emission in Direct Current Magnetron Sputtering using Explicit Energy-Conserving Particle-in-Cell Methods
topic Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.10727