Radiofrequency capacitively coupled plasmas (RF-CCPs) have a wide range of industrial applications, from semiconductor manufacturing to plasma medicine. A thorough understanding of the charged particle dynamics in the plasma (consisting of electrons and ions), is essential for the optimization and control of these plasma processes. One crucial question is how electrons (which, having a relatively small mass, are able to follow the temporal variations of the RF-modulated electric field) can gain/lose energy by interacting with the electric field and the atoms/molecules of the (neutral) background gas. This mechanism is called electron power absorption.

As of today, there is no single, self-consistent theoretical model for electron power absorption that is devoid of approximations and specific assumptions. In this thesis I use the Boltzmann Term Analysis, a computational method (based on the electron momentum balance equation and Particle-In-Cell/Monte-Carlo-Collisions (PIC/MCC) simulations), which is able to provide a self-consistent, spatio-temporally resolved description of electron power absorption. I show how this method can give a unified picture of how electron power absorption works in a wide range of physical situations, thus enabling a deeper understanding of the underlying physical phenomena that take place in CCPs.

[1] Vass M, Wilczek S, Lafleur T, Brinkmann RP, Donkó Z & Schulze J 2020 PSST 29(2) 025019

[2] Vass M, Wilczek S, Lafleur T, Brinkmann RP, Donkó Z & Schulze J 2020 PSST 29(8) 085014

[3] Vass M, Wilczek S, Lafleur T, Brinkmann RP, Donkó Z & Schulze J 2021 PSST 30(6) 065015

[4] Vass M, Wilczek S, Schulze J & Donkó Z 2021 PSST 30(10) 105010

[5] Vass M, Wilczek S, Derzsi A, Horváth B, Hartmann P & Donkó Z 2022 PSST 31(4) 045017