CSiPI: A numerical tool for plasma erosion phenomena in space applications

The massive, and growing, presence of electric propulsion devices onboard spacecrafts enhances the importance of plasma erosion phenomena among the space community. In a context lacking extensive experimental databases, numerical modelling represents an attractive solution to estimate plasma sputtering. This work introduces the latest version of CSiPI (Code de Simulation de la Pulvérisation Ionique – Simulation Code for Ion Sputtering), a numerical tool for the characterisation of the material response to the ionic bombardment. Based on the widely-used binary collision approximation, the model is discussed in details. A comprehensive description of its current numerical implementation highlights the main differences from existing models, like the treatment of the binding energies. Validation through comparison with experimental and numerical results proves that the novel version of the software can compute effectively key erosion magnitudes (sputtering yield and angular distribution of eroded particles) of mono-atomic metals and ceramic materials subject to plasma conditions relevant for space applications. Future activities aimed at further improving the code and integrating it with numerical software for space mission simulations are also briefly discussed.