The electrical asymmetry effect in geometrically asymmetric capacitive radio frequency plasmas

Abstract

The electrical asymmetry effect (EAE) allows an almost ideal separate control of the mean ion energy, 〈Ei〉, and flux, Γi, at the electrodes in capacitive radio frequency discharges with identical electrode areas driven at two consecutive harmonics with adjustable phase shift, θ. In such geometrically symmetric discharges, a DC self bias is generated as a function of θ. Consequently, 〈Ei〉 can be controlled separately from Γi by adjusting the phase shift. Here, we systematically study the EAE in low pressure dual-frequency discharges with different electrode areas operated in argon at 13.56 MHz and 27.12 MHz by experiments, kinetic simulations, and analytical modeling. We find that the functional dependence of the DC self bias on θ is similar, but its absolute value is strongly affected by the electrode area ratio. Consequently, the ion energy distributions change and 〈Ei〉 can be controlled by adjusting θ, but its control range is different at both electrodes and determined by the area ratio. Under distinct conditions, the geometric asymmetry can be compensated electrically. In contrast to geometrically symmetric discharges, we find the ratio of the maximum sheath voltages to remain constant as a function of θ at low pressures and Γi to depend on θ at the smaller electrode. These observations are understood by the model. Finally, we study the self-excitation of non-linear plasma series resonance oscillations and its effect on the electron heating.