PLASIMO modeling of dust particles in plasmas

Nano-dusty plasmas are of interest in various plasma technologies, for example to enhance the structural, electrical, or mechanical properties of materials, or to enhance the efficiency and stability of LED’s and solar cells. In many applications, dust particles are critical sources of contamination that can deteriorate the product quality and lower the efficiency of the manufacturing process. As an example, in the semiconductor industry dust particles are detrimental if they land on the reticle of an EUV lithography system.

In any case, fundamental understanding of the formation, growth and transport of dust is of great importance for the control and minimization of contamination and for the successful and efficient deployment of nano-dusty plasma technologies.

To that end, we are developing a simulation tool that describes all the processes, starting from the nascence of the dust particles to their growth and transport in the plasma in a fully self-consistent way. The PLASIMO simulation platform has been used as a basis for this work. We present the current status of the development of the particle nucleation module, the particle growth module, the plasma module and dust particle tracker module.