A Nonlinear Two-Sheath Circuit Model for Low-Pressure Symmetric and Asymmetric Capacitively Coupled Radio-Frequency Plasmas

Abstract

We develop a nonlinear self-consistent two-sheath circuit model for low-pressure capacitively coupled plasmas that applies to geometrically symmetric as well as asymmetric discharges. The quasineutral plasma bulk is represented by an inductive-resistive element and coupled to stationary particle and electron-energy balances. Both boundary sheaths are treated dynamically using a lncosh sheath charge-voltage model with bounded differential elastance, based on a Riccati closure for the differential sheath width. The model recovers the quadratic depletion-sheath relation in the small-charge limit, while the characteristic sheath scales are determined from the RF-averaged sheath voltages using a collisionless Child-Langmuir/Bohm closure. The resulting four-variable RF subsystem contains the two sheath charges, the blocking-capacitor voltage, and the discharge current. In the symmetric monofrequent limit, the two sheath nonlinearities compensate strongly and the dc self-bias vanishes, whereas geometrical or electrical asymmetry breaks this compensation and enhances harmonic generation and plasma-series-resonance oscillations.