Collisional ion energy distribution (IED) model for single frequency capacitive discharges

Summary form only given. The distributions of particles on substrate surfaces are very important for materials processing, and it is valuable to develop fast computation models to predict and control them. A model is developed to determine the ion energy distribution (IED) from the tool measurements in a single-frequency driven capacitive discharge in a collisional sheath regime. The sheath width and sheath voltage are estimated from the external control parameters by an analytical model (M.A. Lieberman and A.J. Lichtenberg, 2005). The results are verified very well by 1D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The ion mean free path is considered to be a known function of energy, and the sheath voltage and sheath width are independent of time and position in preliminary work. It is found that with various dependences of the ion mean free path on energy, the IEDs exhibit markedly different profiles. To verify our collisional sheath model with PIC simulations and experiments, it is necessary to consider rf-driven collisional sheath dynamics.