A Numerical Method to Simulate Radio-Frequency Plasma Discharges

A fully conservative and efficient numerical algorithm is developed for fluid simulations of radio-frequency plasma discharges. Results are presented in one and multiple dimensions for a helium discharge. The algorithm produces accurate results even on fairly coarse grids without the use of numerical dissipation. The proposed electron flux discretization is more accurate and efficient than two of the most commonly used discretizations: low-order upwinding (M. S. Barnes, T. J. Colter, and M. E. Elta, 1987, J. Appl. Phys.61, 81) and Scharfetter–Gummel (D. L. Scharfetter and H. K. Gummel, 1969, IEEE Trans. Electron DevicesED-16, 64).