Radio-frequency discharges in oxygen: III. Comparison of modelling and experiment

We present results of 1d3v particle-in-cell Monte Carlo collisions simulations of a capacitive RF discharge in oxygen. Several direct comparisons between experiment and modelling are presented. The calculated ion energy distributions show good agreement with the experimentally measured ones for different discharge parameters. A plausible explanation of a double emissive layer near the powered electrode recently discovered in experiments is suggested. Heavy particle dissociative excitation collisions seem to be responsible for the formation of a second emissive layer close to the electrode. Introducing this process into the simulation a rather good agreement of the simulated axial emission profile with the experimentally observed one can be achieved. This delivers an estimate for the cross section of this collision.