Modelling of capacitively coupled RF plasmas in H2

Hydrogen is the main component of many feeding mixtures used for plasma processing. Despite this, the physics and chemistries of the parallel plate, capacitively coupled, radio frequency discharges in pure hydrogen are not yet fully understood. The state of the art of the modeling of this system is analyzed, including the problems posed by the electron and ion reactions, the ion heating, the chemistry of excited molecules, the non-equilibrium distributions, the surface catalytic reactions, the double frequency discharge effects. Specific points are illustrated using new results obtained by a self-consistent kinetic model developed in the last 10 years. A concluding discussion summarizes the achievements and open problems of the field.