Particle turbulent dispersion and loading effects in an inductively coupled radio frequency plasma

Particle turbulent dispersion and particle loading effects in an inductively coupled radio frequency (rf) plasma reactor are investigated numerically. Comparison is made between the effects of particle turbulent dispersion and deterministic dispersion processes to show the significance of particle turbulent dispersion in this kind of reactor system. The relative importance of particle turbulent dispersion is found to be sensitive to the Stokes number in the particle loaded plasma flow. The plasma-particle energy and momentum loading effects (two-way coupling effects) are studied separately to highlight their respective roles in the energy and momentum transfer between the plasma and the particles. The results show that both energy loading and momentum loading have significant influence on the plasma and particle temperature and velocity profiles. The effect of energy loading is more pronounced. (author)