Electrical characteristics of the GEC reference cell at low pressure: A two-dimensional PIC/MCC modeling study

Abstract The electrical characteristics of the Gaseous Electronics Conference (GEC) reference cell at low pressures are investigated using a two-dimensional electrostatic implicit particle-in-cell / Monte Carlo collision model (PIC / MCC) in cylindrical coordinates. The coupling between the complex reactor geometry and the external circuit is included via an equivalent capacitance calculated from the electric energy density and the charge conservation equation. The results of this model are compared with experimental measurements and other model calculations and show agreement. The plasma series resonance (PSR) effect, closely related to electron heating, is observed in this numerical simulation of a strongly asymmetric reactor at low pressures. The plasma kinetics of the capacitively coupled discharge and details of the external circuit response, including electrical waveforms and higher-order harmonics, are discussed at different pressures, which provides important insights for understanding the power coupling mechanisms in capacitively coupled discharges.