Computer Modeling and Simulation of an Argon Gas Plasma Produced by Inductively Coupled Plasma Method with Variable Input Powers and Dielectric Thickness

Inductively coupled plasmas (ICPs) find extensive applications in various fields such as materials processing and microelectronics fabrication. Nevertheless, a comprehensive understanding of their electromagnetic properties is yet to be achieved. Consequently, in order to bridge this knowledge gap, we have undertaken two-dimensional (2D), time-dependent finite element simulations to analyze the magnetic field, electron density, pressure, and temperature distribution within an argon gas ICP. This analysis was conducted by subjecting the coil set-up to varying power levels of 600, 700, 800, and 900 W. To gain further insights, a comparative study was conducted to examine the impact of power variation on the plasma parameters, and the corresponding outcomes have been presented. It was observed that as the power level increased, both the electron density and temperature within the working chamber exhibited a corresponding increase. the subsequent section of this study focuses on investigating the influence of dielectric thickness on electron density and temperature, with a fixed power of 900 W that was determined to be the optimized power level. The objective here was to determine the extent to which changes in dielectric thickness affected the aforementioned plasma parameters. The results revealed that as the dielectric thickness increased, there was a slight decrease in both electron density and temperature. However, this decrease was found to be insignificant in magnitude.