Pulsed sheath dynamics in a small cylindrical bore with an auxiliary electrode for plasma immersion ion implantation

The temporal evolution of the plasma sheath in a small cylindrical bore with an auxiliary electrode is calculated for zero-rise-time voltage pulses. The ion density, flux, dose, ion energy distribu-tion, and electric field are determined by solving Poisson’s equation and the equations of ion motion and continuity using finite difference methods. Our results indicate that the implantation time is about halved and slightly more than 50% of the ions possess impact energy higher than the maximum achieved when an auxiliary electrode is absent. The resulting ion flux, ion current, as well as ion energy distribution, are also determined.