A self-consistent kinetic plasma model with rapid convergence

Abstract

Algorithms for very efficient solution of kinetic equations have previously been developed and used to obtain a self-consistent kinetic description of electrons and ions in various plasmas, including RF glow discharges. Since RF discharge calculations may take many thousands of cycles to converge, a solution which follows the time evolution throughout this process is inevitably computationally costly. The authors have implemented a 'scaleup' procedure which obviates the need to follow the entire time evolution in this or other plasma models. When the applied RF frequency lies between the electron plasma frequency and the ion plasma frequency. By running the full calculation for a short-time, information which permits an extrapolation of the time evolution over a very long time, or a scaleup, is extracted. A detailed description of the basis for the scaleup is given, as well as an example of the use of a scaleup procedure, as applied to a moderately high-pressure RF discharge in helium.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>