PIC/MCC Simulation of Radio Frequency Hollow Cathode Discharge in Nitrogen

A two-dimensional PIC/MCC model is developed to simulate the nitrogen radio frequency hollow cathode discharge (rf-HCD).It is found that both the sheath oscillation heating and the secondary electron heating together play a role to maintain the rf-HCD under the simulated conditions.The mean energy of ions (N2+,N+) in the negative glow region is greater than the thermal kinetic energy of the molecular gas (N2),which is an important characteristic of rf-HCD.During the negative portion of the hollow electrode voltage cycle,electrons mainly follow pendulum movement and produce a large number of ionization collisions in the plasma region.During the positive voltage of the rf cycle,the axial electric field becomes stronger and its direction is pointing to the anode (substrate),therefore the ions move toward the anode (substrate) via the axial electric field acceleration.Compared with dc-HCD,rf-HCD is more suitable for serving as a plasma jet nozzle at low pressure.     

Influence of heating on the discharge characteristics of a hollow cathode

Hollow cathodes are widely used as electron sources and neutralizers in ion and Hall electric propulsion. Special applications such as commercial aerospace and gravitational wave detection require hollow cathodes with a very wide discharge current range. In this paper, a heater is used to compensate for the temperature drop of the emitter at low current. The self-sustained current can be extended from 0.6 to 0.1 A with a small discharge oscillation and ion energy when the flow rate is constant. This is also beneficial for long-life operation. However, when the discharge current is high(1 A), heating can cause discharge oscillation, discharge voltage and ion energy to increase. Further, combined with a rapid decline of pressure inside the cathode and an increase in the temperature in the cathode orifice plate, electron emission in the orifice and outside the orifice increases and the plasma density in the orifice decreases. This leads to a change in the cathode discharge mode.     

Effects of discharge parameters on the micro-hollow cathode sustained glow discharge

The effects of parameters such as pressure, first anode radius, and the cavity diameter on the micro-hollow cathode sustained glow discharge are investigated by using a two-dimensional self-consistent fluid model in pure argon. The results indicate that the three parameters influence the discharge in the regions inside and outside of the cavity. Under a fixed voltage on each electrode, a larger volume of high density plasma can be produced in the region between the first and the second anodes by selecting the appropriate pressure, the higher first anode, and the appropriate cavity diameter. As the pressure increases, the electron density inside the hollow cathode, the high density plasma volume between the first anode and second anodes, and the radial electric field in the cathode cavity initially increase and subsequently decrease. As the cavity diameter increases, the high-density plasma volume between the first and second anodes initially increases and subsequently decreases; whereas the electron density inside the hollow cathode decreases. As the first anode radius increases, the electron density increases both inside and outside of the cavity. Moreover, the increase of the electron density is more obvious in the microcathode sustained region than in the micro cavity region. The results reveal that the discharge inside the cavity interacts with that outside the cavity. The strong hollow cathode effect and the high-density plasma inside the cavity favor the formation of a sustained discharge between the first anode and the second anodes. Results also show that the radial boundary conditions exert a considerably weaker influence on the discharge except for a little change in the region close to the radial boundary.     

Study on the plasma generation characteristics of an induction-triggered coaxial pulsed plasma thruster

At present,spark plugs are used to trigger discharge in pulsed plasma thrusters (PPT),which are known to be life-limiting components due to plasma corrosion and carbon deposition.A strong electric field could be formed in a cathode triple junction (CTJ) to achieve a trigger function under vacuum conditions.We propose an induction-triggered electrode structure on the basis of the CTJ trigger principle.The induction-triggered electrode structure could increase the electric field strength of the CTJ without changing the voltage between electrodes,contributing to a reduction in the electrode breakdown voltage.Additionally,it can maintain the plasma generation effect when the breakdown voltage is reduced in the discharge experiments.The induction-triggered electrode structure could ensure an effective trigger when the ablation distance of Teflon increases,and the magnetic field produced by the discharge current could further improve the plasma density and propagation velocity.The induction-triggered coaxial PPT we propose has a simplified trigger structure,and it is an effective attempt to optimize the micro-satellite thruster.     

Parametric Study on Arc Behavior of Magnetically Diffused Arc

A model coupling the plasma with a cathode body is applied in the simulation of the diffuse state of a magnetically rotating arc.Four parametric studies are performed:on the external axial magnetic field (AMF),on the cathode shape,on the total current and on the inlet gas velocity.The numerical results show that:the cathode attachment focuses in the center of the cathode tip with zero AMF and gradually shifts off the axis with the increase of AMF;a larger cathode conical angle corresponds to a cathode arc attachment farther away off axis;the maximum values of plasma temperature increase with the total current;the plasma column in front of the cathode tip expands more severely in the axial direction,with a higher inlet speed;the cathode arc attachment shrinks towards the tip as the inlet speed increases.The various results are supposed to be explained by the joint effect of coupled cathode surface heating and plasma rotating flow.     

Collisional Sheath in the Electronegative Radio-Frequency Plasma

A model of collisional RF sheath with negative ions is discussed in this paper. The influences of collision and negative ions on the parameters of the sheath are studied through numerical simulation. It is found that when the collision coefficient increases and the RF power is fixed, the electrode potential and sheath electric field potential increase, the electrode current and thickness of the sheath decrease. When the negative ion content changes, the same phenomenon Occurs,     

A Study on the Tuned Bias of Substrate in an Inductively-coupled Plasma Source

1. IntroductionRadio-frequency (rf) capacitively-coupled plasma(CCP) source has been successfully used in manyfields such as film deposition, etching, surfaCe modification. However, one of the disadvantages of thisplasma discharge is the lack of independent control over plasma generation and bombarding energy of ion upon the processed materials surface [1].To achieve independent control over the above twoprocesses) researchers have put forth different techniques. A variable inductor was plac…     

Study of Characteristics of the Radio-Frequency Sheath over a Substrate with a Circular Trench

Since processed substrates usually exhibit nonplanar surface structures in Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) etching, a two-dimensional (2D) fluid model is developed to simulate the characteristics of the sheath near a conductive substrate with a circular trench, which is placed in an argon discharge powered by a radio-frequency (rf) current source. The model consists of 2D time-dependent fluid equations, the Poisson equation, and a current balance equation that can self-consistently determine the instantaneous voltage on the substrate placed on a powered electrode. The effects of both the aspect ratio (depth/width) and the structure of the trench on the characteristics of the sheath are simulated. The time-averaged potential and electric field in the sheath are calculated and compared for different discharge parameters. The results show that the radial sheath profile is not uniform and always tends to adapt to the contour of the substrate, which is believed to be the moulding effect. Affected by the structure of the substrate surface, the potential and electric field near the inner and outer sidewalls of the trench exhibit obvious non-uniformity, which will inevitably lead to non-uniformity in etching, such as notching. Furthermore, with a fixed amplitude of the rf current source, the potential drops and the sheath thickness decrease with an increase in aspect ratio.     

Effects of Gas Flow Rate on the Discharge Characteristics of a DC Excited Plasma Jet

A direct current(DC) source excited plasma jet consisting of a hollow needle anode and a plate cathode has been developed to form a diffuse discharge plume in ambient air with flowing argon as the working gas.Using optical and electrical methods,the discharge characteristics are investigated for the diffuse plasma plume.Results indicate that the discharge has a pulse characteristic,under the excitation of a DC voltage.The discharge pulse corresponds to the propagation process of a plasma bullet travelling from the anode to the cathode.It is found that,with an increment of the gas flow rate,both the discharge plume length and the current peak value of the pulsed discharge decrease in the laminar flow mode,reach their minima at about1.5 L/min,and then slightly increase in the turbulent mode.However,the frequency of the pulsed discharge increases in the laminar mode with increasing the argon flow rate until the argon flow rate equals to about 1.5 L/min,and then slightly decreases in the turbulent mode.     

Two-Dimensional Self-Consistent Kinetic Model for Solenoidal Inductively Coupled Plasma

A two-dimensional self-consistent kinetic model was developed to study the influence of the various factors on the electron energy distribution function. These factors include gas pressure the driving frequency, the radius and length of the inductively coupled plasma equipment, the amplitude of the radio-frequency coil current, and the number of turns of rf coils. The spatial profiles of the rf electric field and power density have also been calculated under the same parameters. Numerical results show that the electron energy distribution functions are significantly modified and the spatial profiles of the rf electric field and rf power density are also demonstrated.     

Extraction Characteristics of Radio Frequency ICP Ion Source

An inductively coupled radio frequency ion source has been developed and its extraction characteristics measured. Beam current density up to 0.11 mA/ cm2 was obtained with argon at a rf discharge power of about 140 W. The dependences of ion beam on the discharge parameters such as rf source power, gas pressure and gas flow rate was studied.     

Properties of Ion Beams Generated by Nitrogen Plasma Focus

Numerical experiments have been systematically carried out using the modified Lee model code on various plasma focus devices operated with nitrogen gas. The ion beam properties (ion beam energy, ion beam flux, ion beam fluence, beam ion number, ion beam current, power flow density, and damage factor) of the plasma focus have been studied versus gas pressure for each plasma focus device. The results show that, for these studied plasma focus devices, the mean ion energies decrease with increasing gas pressure, while the beam ion number increases with higher pressure. The fluence, flux, ion current, power flow density and damage factor have maximum values at the optimum pressure. It is shown that, the maximum power flow densities range from 10¹² to 10¹⁴ W m^?2 and the damage factor values reach almost 10⁹–10¹¹ W m^?2 s^0.5. The obtained results provide much needed benchmark reference values and scaling trends for ion beams of a plasma focus operated in nitrogen gas. These results could be used as an indicator for ion properties emitted from nitrogen plasma focus for various applications including material processing.     

Ar射频放电特性随时间演化的PIC/MCC模拟

采用等离子体粒子模拟方法(PIC/MCC)方法对一维模型模拟了容性耦合等离子体(CCP)源放电过程中等离子体的动力学行为。在模拟氩气放电的过程中,综合考虑了电子与Ar之间的弹性碰撞、激发、电离以及Ar与Ar+之间的弹性碰撞和电荷交换过程。由模拟结果可知,射频极板附近鞘层区域在极短时间内形成,其厚度随着时间的增加而增厚;而射频极板处的粒子通量随着时间的增加逐渐减小。经过一段时间后,射频极板处平均粒子通量、平均电流以及鞘层平均厚度逐渐趋于平衡。在鞘层区域电流主要由位移电流构成,在等离子体区域电流主要由传导电流贡献。最后讨论了达到平衡态后等离子体密度、电势、电场强度和能量的空间分布情况。     

Measurements of plasma parameters in a hollow electrode AC glow discharge in helium

Measurements of the plasma parameters of coaxial gridded hollow electrode alternating current(AC)discharge helium plasma were carried out using an improved probe diagnostic technology.The measurements were performed under well-defined discharge conditions(chamber geometry,input power,AC power frequency,and external electrical characteristics).The problems encountered in describing the characteristics of AC discharge in many probe diagnostic methods were addressed by using an improved probe diagnostics design.This design can also be applied to the measurement of plasma parameters in many kinds of plasma sources in which the probe potential fluctuates with the discharge current.Several parameters of the hollow electrode AC helium discharge plasma were measured,including the plasma density,electron temperature,plasma density profiles,and changes in plasma density at different input power values and helium pressures.The characteristics of the coaxial gridded hollow electrode plasma determined by the experiments are suitable for comparison with plasma simulations,and for use in many applications of hollow cathode plasma.     

Development of a silver ion source using nanosecond pulses of a Nd:YAG laser at different wavelengths

A silver ion source was designed by focusing the fundamental and harmonics of Q-switched Nd:YAG laser pulses onto a silver target and simultaneously applying an electric potential in an argon environment. The silver ions were detected at a distance of 2 cm from the target surface using a Faraday cup ion probe after letting them pass through a retarding mesh grid (copper electrode). We aim to produce and characterize the silver ions generated by the laser radiation of different wavelengths and pulse energy, ambient gas pressure and the electrode spacing under applied electric field. In addition to this, the effect of laser radiation on plasma under vacuum and at different argon gas pressures was investigated. The velocity distribution function of the plasma emitted from the silver target was investigated under argon discharge. These measurements demonstrated clearly that the velocity distribution function and current signals depend on laser power, laser wavelength and argon pressure. We observed a ten fold increase in the plume current with increase in the applied voltage and ion velocity in the presence of a laser field. The surface morphology of the laser irradiated samples was investigated using reflection optical microscopy.     

Effect of vacuum backpressure on discharge characteristics of hollow cathode

A hollow cathode is the electronic source and neutralizer of the Hall thruster and an ion thruster.When the orbit of an all-electric propulsion satellite changes from 100 km to 36 000 km, the backpressure changes by two to three orders of magnitude. In this paper, the influence of the backpressure on the discharge characteristics of the hollow cathode has been studied experimentally in the so-called diode configuration. With the increase in the backpressure, the anode voltage decreases gradually, and the amplitude of the current oscillation decreases significantly. Additionally, the plasma is relatively stable, the most probable ion energy and the width of the ion energy distribution reduces, and the electron distribution function inclines toward the Maxwell distribution under high backpressure. The analysis results show that the backpressure affects the gas ionization and the ionic acoustic turbulence, which also affects the discharge characteristics of the hollow cathode.     

低能高束流氩离子源的结构及性能

离子源技术是等离子体研究中的一项重要内容,而低能大束流源则是离子源技术研究中的一个重要方向,因为这样的源在离子束刻蚀、离子束溅射镀膜以及荷能粒子与物质相互作用方面都有广泛的应用;本文采用空心阴极空心阳极结构,用热阴极电子发射弧放电驱动并用磁场约束产生等离子体,用曲面发射引出离子束,研制成了氩气放电溅射离子源;研究了灯丝加热电流、弧压对弧流的影响和弧流与工作气体压力对离子束引出的影响规律.离子源的引出电压在0-4.0 kV之间连续可调,最大引出束流为100 mA,束斑面积为φ6.0 cm,以Ti为溅射靶时的最大溅射沉积率为0.45 nm/s,离子源可连续工作160 h.     

Particle-in-cell simulation of magnetic-assisted electrostatic confinement device

In order to enhance the fusion reaction rate in inertial electrostatic confinement devices, it is necessary to increase the ion density with low cathode current and low background pressure. In order to accomplish the requirement, the authors suggest magnetic-assisted electrostatic confinement (MEC) scheme. The MEC relies on controlling the ion motion by applying an axial magnetic field to a system with cylindrical electrodes. In order to clarify the fundamental performances of the MEC device, particle-in-cell simulation was carried out. By reducing the background pressure, the ion confinement was improved resulting in the increase of the ion density. However, the ion density saturated due to space charge limitation. The estimated fusion reaction rate was about 5 × 10⁶ 1/s/m when the cathode voltage was −100 kV, the magnetic field was 200 mT, and the cathode current was 100 mA/m. The reaction rate, however, is expected to become higher since the ion density limitation is moderated by the electron which is not considered in the present analysis.     

Numerical study of atmospheric-pressure argon plasma jet propagating into ambient nitrogen

A 2D axial symmetry fluid model is applied to study the features of an atmospheric-pressure argon (Ar) plasma jet propagating into ambient nitrogen (N₂) driven by a pulsed voltage, emphasizing the influence of gas velocity on the dynamic characteristics of the jet. The results show that the Ar jet exhibits a cylindrical-shaped channel and the jet channel gradually shrinks with the increase in propagation length. The jet propagation velocity varies with time. Inside the dielectric tube, the plasma jet accelerates propagation and reaches its maximum value near the nozzle. Exiting the tube, its velocity quickly decreases and when approaching the metal plane, the decrease in jet velocity slows down. The increase in gas speed results in the variation of jet spatial distribution. The electron density presents a solid structure at lower gas flow speeds, whereas an annular structure can be observed under the higher gas flow velocity in the ionization head. The jet length increases with the flow velocity. However, when the flow velocity exceeds a critical value, the increase in the rate of the plasma jet length slows down. In addition, the gas velocity effect on the generation and transport of the reactive particles is also studied and discussed.