Modelling of voids in complex radio frequency plasmas

In this paper hydrodynamic and kinetic approaches to model low pressure capacitively coupled complex radiofrequency discharges are discussed and applied to discharges under microgravity. Experiments in the PKE-Nefedov reactor on board the International Space Station, as well as discharges in which gravity is compensated by means of thermophoresis are simulated with a 2-D cylindrically symmetric hydrodynamic model. Kinetic effects are studied with a 1-D Particle-In-Cell plus Monte Carlo model in which capture and scattering by dust grains is included. Simulations with this model address non-local effects and modulated discharges.