Simulation of electron distribution features in the ionization process of an electron cyclotron resonance discharge

A theoretical and computational model has been proposed to study the characteristics of electron distribution features in the ionization process of the argon electron cyclotron resonance microwave discharge. A quasi-three-dimensional electromagnetic particle-in-cell plus Monte Carlo collision method is used. The elastic, excitation, ionizing electron-neutral collisions and elastic, charge exchange ion-neutral collisions are taken into account. The detailed information about the distributions of electron and electromagnetic fields are obtained, and the influence of neutral pressures on the electron energy distribution is also involved