PLASMA MODELING FOR SURFACE PROCESSING

Numerical modelling of plasma systems is proving an increasingly valua ble tool in the understanding of fundamental processes in reactors for surface engineering applications. The present paper discusses some of the fundamental physical and mathematical models used to describe pla sma behaviour and their range of validity and applicability to plasma reactors. A number of specific examples which illustrate the way in wh ich these methods may be implemented to model plasmas in dc and rf dio de reactors and plasma 'ball' microwave reactors are described, with c omparison between numerical results, diagnostic measurements and exper imental observations from the published literature.