Electrical characteristics of breakdown phase of a wire ion plasma source
- Tokyo Inst. of Technology (Japan). Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Hanyang Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of). Dept. of Electrical Engineering
The Wire Ion Plasma Source (WIPS) has the potential as a high-density-plasma source and a large-cross sectional ion source that can be used for the secondary emission electron gun. The WIPS is a cold-cathode gaseous discharge device based on the low-pressure wire discharge. The anode is a thin tungsten wire. The cathode consists of a stainless steel cylinder which is set coaxially to the wire anode and the plates having central apertures at both ends. This configuration produces not only a radial logarithmic trapping potential but also an axial one for electrons, and permits low-pressure gaseous discharge to occur with very low applied voltage. The Townsend theory gives a good description of the avalanche mechanism of breakdown with the first Townsend coefficient. However, for the case of low-pressure WIPS where the mean free path of electrons is comparable to the distance between the electrodes, a steady flux of electrons can not be established and the first Townsend coefficient obtained for the uniform electric field is not adequate. Therefore the characteristic of dc breakdown voltage of the low-pressure wire discharge in helium was calculated numerically using a Monte Carlo technique. Calculated results show that the efficient trapping of fast electrons in the radial logarithmic potential plays a major role in the electrical breakdown of the WIPS. Furthermore the characteristic of breakdown phase of the pulsed discharge is investigated using a PIC technique and the results will be also reported.
- OSTI ID:
- 153907
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950612-; ISBN 0-7803-2669-5; TRN: IM9602%%397
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 22. international conference on plasma science, Madison, WI (United States), 5-8 Jun 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of IEEE conference record -- abstracts: 1995 IEEE international conference on plasma science; PB: 312 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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