Abstract
There is increasing interest in glow discharges because of their importance to a large number of application fields, like the microelectronics industry, flat plasma display panel technology, the laser and light industry and analytical spectrochemistry. To improve the capabilities of rf glow discharges, a good understanding of the discharge physics is highly desirable. The typical calculated results include the radio frequency (rf) voltage, the electrical field distribution, the density of argon ions and electrons, the electron energy distribution function and information about the collision processes of the electrons with the Monte Carlo model. These results are presented throughout the discharge axis and as a function of time in the rf cycle. Moreover, we have investigated how many rf cycles have to be followed before a periodic steady state is reached.