Inductively Coupled Plasmas

High-fidelity yet computationally inexpensive plasma simulations are vital for low-temperature, radio-frequency (RF) devices spanning applications relevant to materials processing and electric propulsion. In this work, a full fluid moment (FFM) model is developed, coupled with an electromagnetics (EM) module to simulate an axisymmetric inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The 1D-2V solver advances mass, momentum, and energy conservation equations, and retains electron inertia, which is omitted in classical drift-diffusion (DD) approximation. The EM fields are coupled using time and frequency domain solvers, including finite difference time domain (FDTD) and finite difference frequency domain (FDFD). Verification is performed against an in-house particle-in-cell Monte-Carlo collision (PIC-MCC) model for xenon gas at 13.56 MHz. Close qualitative agreement is achieved in the main macroscopic quantities of interest. Runtime is reduced by two orders of magnitude. Comparison with PIC-MCC simulations shows the kinetic phenomena that are captured by the fluid closure and highlights regimes where the DD approximation breaks down. The long-term goal of this project is the development of a computational tool that enables rapid simulations of ionized gas systems and offers a practical bridge between first-principle kinetic methods and conventional fluid models for ICPs.

Funding acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under Award No. FA9550-25-1-0032