Kinetic simulations of magnetized capacitively coupled discharges

Capacitive high frequency discharges are of crucial importance in the context of plasma etching, deposition and surface modification. As these single or multiple frequency discharges are oftentimes operated at low pressures of less than a few pascal, a high plasma density is commonly achieved with the use of external magnetic fields. In this work kinetic simulations are used to investigate the effect of inhomogeneous external magnetic fields on the discharge dynamics in a strongly nonlocal pressure regime. We found that capacitively coupled discharges can be largely asymmetrized by applying strong magnetic fields in front of a given target electrode. This not only has an effect on the plasma density, but also on the ion energy distribution functions (IEDF) at the electrodes and on the acceleration of fast electrons in the plasma sheath regions. In consequence in the discharge currents a generation of higher harmonics of the driving frequency can be observed. We investigate these scenarios in terms of 1D-3V Particle in Cell simulations.