Ion trajectories and shadow effects in mesh-assisted plasma immersion ion implantation of insulator

A two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) model considering secondary electron emission (SEE) as a function of ion instantaneous incident energy is developed for describing ion trajectories and shadow effects in mesh-assisted plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) of insulator. The simulation results indicate that mesh-assisted PIII can improve the equivalent surface potential, suppress the emission of secondary electrons and provide better implantation dynamics for ions implantation on insulator. On 5 mm thick polymer substrate, an aluminum plasma implanted coating is achieved with excellent adhesion strength by mesh-assisted PIII with 10 mm mesh height. Consistent results are obtained from experiments and numerical simulation disclosing that shallow effects can be eliminated, and ions incident energy is enhanced.