  Particle-in-cell with Monte Carlo collisions (PIC/MCC) is a fully kinetic,
particle based numerical simulation method with increasing popularity in the
field of low temperature gas discharge physics. Already in its simplest form
(electrostatic, one-dimensional geometry, and explicit time integration), it
can properly describe a wide variety of complex, non-local, non-linear
phenomena in electrical gas discharges at the microscopic level with high
accuracy. However, being a numerical model working with discretized temporal
and (partially) spatial coordinates, its stable and accurate operation largely
depends on the choice of several model parameters. Starting from four selected
base cases of capacitively coupled, radio frequency driven argon discharges,
representing low and intermediate pressure and voltage situations, we discuss
the effect of the variation of a set of simulation parameters on the plasma
density distribution and the electron energy probability function. The
simulation parameters include the temporal and spatial resolution, the PIC
superparticle weight factor, as well as the electron reflection and the
ion-induced electron emission coefficients, characterizing plasma-surface
interactions.
