Similarity laws of low pressure inductively coupled discharges based on PIC/MCC simulations

Abstract A two-dimensional implicit particle-in-cell model is applied for exploring the plasma behavior and similarity laws (SLs) for low pressure inductive radio frequency plasmas. The applicability of the SLs in such discharges is examined for various plasma parameters, including electric field, electron density, electron temperature, electron current density, and electron power density distributions. The results indicate that the discharge characteristics strictly follow similarity relations in geometrically similar systems in low ionization degree ICP discharges at low pressure. Even under conditions where the anomalous skin effect caused by electron inertia and nonlocal transportation exist, the electron kinetics in compared systems remain invariant.