Self-consistent study of the different stages in a glow discharge

The operation of a glow discharge system can be divided in three stages: (i) generation in the dark space of the energetic particles that bombard the cathode, (ii) emission at the cathode of the sputtered target atoms and backscattered gas particles, and (iii) transport and thermalization of these energetic particles fluxes through the plasma, until their eventual depositions. In this work we connect these three processes that take place in a sputtered glow discharge system. We evaluate, through a set of transport equations, the generation of the energetic particles in the dark space. The energy distributions of these particles at the cathode are employed as an input into the sputtering process; this stage is analyzed by a Monte Carlo simulation code. The transport and thermalization of the energetic particle fluxes are also investigated by the Monte Carlo code TRAP, where the energy and angular spectrum of the sputtered particles are used as quantities. Finally, at the end of these three coupled stages, we predict thermalization profiles, energy and angular distribution of sputtered particles at a given distance from the cathode, and also the total energy carried out by the sputtered and reflected fluxes of particles at the anode.