Gridless, very low energy, high-current, gaseous ion source

Journal Article · Mon Feb 15 04:00:00 EST 2010 · Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3259233· OSTI ID:22053877

Vizir, A V; Oks, E M ^[1]; Shandrikov, M V; Yushkov, G Yu ^[1]

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1. High Current Electronics Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk 634055 (Russian Federation)

We have made and tested a very low energy gaseous ion source in which the plasma is established by a gaseous discharge with electron injection in an axially diverging magnetic field. A constricted arc with hidden cathode spot is used as the electron emitter (first stage of the discharge). The electron flux so formed is filtered by a judiciously shaped electrode to remove macroparticles (cathode debris from the cathode spot) from the cathode material as well as atoms and ions. The anode of the emitter discharge is a mesh, which also serves as cathode of the second stage of the discharge, providing a high electron current that is injected into the magnetic field region where the operating gas is efficiently ionized. In this discharge configuration, an electric field is formed in the ion generation region, accelerating gas ions to energy of several eV in a direction away from the source, without the use of a gridded acceleration system. Our measurements indicate that an argon ion beam is formed with an energy of several eV and current up to 2.5 A. The discharge voltage is kept at less than 20 V, to keep below ion sputtering threshold for cathode material, a feature which along with filtering of the injected electron flow, results in extremely low contamination of the generated ion flow.

• OSTI ID: 22053877
• Journal Information: Review of Scientific Instruments, Journal Name: Review of Scientific Instruments Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 81; ISSN 0034-6748; ISSN RSINAK
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
ACCELERATION
ANODES
ARGON IONS
BEAM-PLASMA SYSTEMS
CATHODES
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRON BEAM INJECTION
ELECTRONS
EV RANGE
ION BEAMS
ION SOURCES
MAGNETIC FIELDS
PLASMA
SPUTTERING