Comparison of 1D and 2D particle-in-cell simulations for DC magnetron sputtering discharges

Abstract

One-dimensional and two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC)/Monte Carlo collision simulations are performed for a balanced direct current magnetron sputtering (DCMS) discharge. The plasma parameters obtained by both simulations above the target racetrack share similar features and magnitudes under similar discharge intensities, i.e., similar local discharge current densities. The commonly observed high-energy tail of electron energy distribution in DCMS discharges is reproduced in both simulations. The accuracy and applicability of using one-dimensional simulations to qualitatively investigate the characteristics of balanced DCMS discharge are confirmed. In terms of capturing the key physical mechanisms in DCMS, one-dimensional PIC simulation is an efficient method, which could largely alleviate the computational expense and preserve the physical fidelity of modeling results.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2021
Source ID
10.1063/5.0029353

Entities

People

  • Bocong Zheng
  • Keliang Wang
  • Qi Hua Fan
  • Thanh Tran
  • Thomas Schuelke
  • Yangyang Fu

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • Michigan State University
  • National Science Foundation
  • United States Department of Energy

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Image Processing and Computer Vision.
  • Plasma Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Graphene