Influence of an Alternating Phase on the Electron Heating in Capacitively Coupled Radio-Frequency Discharges

In this work, we use a fluid approach to investigate the effect of including an alternating phase on the electron heating mechanism in capacitively coupled radio-frequency discharges. The fluid model coupled to the Poisson equation is numerically solved by using the finite difference method. The obtained results show that by including an alternating phase in the excitation waveform, the electron density increases in the bulk plasma region, while the electron heating increases in the sheath regions where electrons are heated and cooled alternatively during a radio-frequency cycle. Moreover, it is found that an increase in the pressure or the driving frequency can contribute to a more significant increase in electron heating when an alternating phase is added.