Radial profile of energetic particles bombarding the substrate in a glow discharge

Abstract

We have analyzed in an interrelated way the main processes that occur in a glow discharge system: generation of the energetic particles that strike the cathode, emission of sputtered and reflected atoms from the cathode, and transport of these particles through the plasma, until their eventual arrival to the substrate. As an output of our calculations we have obtained the radial profiles of the energy and the number of particles that reach the substrate, as a function of the geometrical characteristics and pressure of the discharge. Our results show that the main part of the energy deposited in the substrate comes from the reflected gas atoms, in spite of the larger number of sputtered cathode atoms.