Dipolar Microwave Plasma Source

Application ID: 10512


This model presents a 2D axisymmetric dipolar microwave plasma source sustained through resonant heating of the electrons. This is known as electron cyclotron resonance (ECR), which occurs when a suitable high magnetic flux density is present along with the microwaves.

This is an advanced model that showcases many of the features that make COMSOL unique, including:

  • Infinite elements for the magnetostatic model.
  • Functional-based mesh adaption to create a fine mesh on the ECR surface.
  • PMLs for the electromagnetic waves to represent
  • Degrees of freedom for all 3 components of the high-frequency electric field despite the fact that the problem is geometrically axisymmetric.
  • Full anisotropic tensors for the plasma conductivity and charged particle transport properties.
  • Resonant power absorption in the ECR surface by the electrons.
  • Equation-based modeling using integrated quantities to fix the total absorbed power.
  • Solver sequencing to first compute the static magnetic field, then solve for all the plasma components.
This model requires the Plasma, AC/DC and RF modules.

This model example illustrates applications of this type that would nominally be built using the following products: