Investigation of Dual Radio-Frequency Driven Sheaths and Ion Energy Distributions Bombarding an Insulating Substrate

Dual radio-frequency (rf) sources at widely different frequencies are often simultaneously used to separately optimize the plasma parameters and ion energy distributions (IEDs) incident onto a substrate. Characteristics of collisionless dual rf biased-sheaths and IEDs impinging on an insulating substrate are studied with a self-consistent one-dimensional fluid model. In order to describe the sheath dynamics over a wide range of frequency, the model includes all the time-dependent terms in the ion fluid equation. Meanwhile, an equivalent circuit model is used to self-consistently determine the relationship among the instantaneous voltage on the insulating substrate, the instantaneous sheath thickness, and the dual currents applied to the electrode. The numerical results show that some parameters such as the bias frequency and bias power of the lower frequency source are crucial for determining the parameters of dual rf biased-sheaths and IEDs arriving at the insulating substrate.