Investigation of plasma immersion ion implantation of nickel-titanium rod by multiple-grid particle-in-cell simulation

A multiple-grid-particle-in-cell numerical method has been developed. This method uses grids of different cell sizes and details are needed in only one part of the simulation region and not others. Hence, there are fewer nodes in the simulation thereby reduced computational time without sacrificing details. In the multiple-grid system, a phenomenon is identified to arise at the interface between two grids and a half-cell weighting method is utilized to solve the weighting issue at the boundary. It is shown that the expression of the change of momentum has no weighting function. This method is employed to numerically simulate the plasma immersion ion implantation process into a nickel titanium rod measuring 50 mm long and 4.8 mm in diameter used in orthopaedic surgery. To conduct more uniform implantation, the NiTi rod is elevated on the sample stage by a metal rod. The nitrogen implantation fluences and depth profiles are simulated and compared to experimental values determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.