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Low-energy ion beam sputtering of polycrystalline diamond
Ion beam milling is a highly versatile and precise technique for the microfabrication of diamond films, enabling controlled material removal at both micrometer and sub-micrometer scales while accommodating complex geometries and surface features. Comprehensive sputtering yield data are essential for process optimization. In this work, we systematically measure the sputter yield of polycrystalline diamond bombarded with $\textrm{N}_2^+$, Ne + , Ar + , Kr + , and Xe + ions over an energy range of 300–900 eV and beam incidence angles of 0°−80°, providing data critical for precision machining applications. Results show that the sputter yield increases with both ion energy and the incidence angle and decreases with increasing ion mass. For $\textrm{N}_2^+$ ions, the sputter yield is largely insensitive to ion energy and exceeds values expected for pure physical sputtering. The concurrent formation of volatile C 2 N 2 molecules during $\textrm{N}_2^+$ ion bombardment suggests that the process is dominated by chemical sputtering. The absence of a peak in the dependence of the sputter yield on the beam incidence angle expected at oblique incidence angles is attributed to the effects of surface roughness.
NOTE ON THE ION BEAM NEUTRALIZATION PROBLEM IN THREE DIMENSIONS
Ion beam neutralization problem in three dimensions
Heavy ion beams in extended materials - Computational methods and experiment
The transport of heavy ion beams in extended materials is a problem of interest in accelerator and space shielding, radiation therapy, and astrophysical and radiobiological studies. The beam particles change their energy and direction of motion through atomic/molecular collisions and undergo occasional radical transformation in nuclear collision. In health physics applications, a heavy ion beam of initially well defined radiation quality is transformed into a complex mixture of diverse quality components after passing through a modest amount of material. This transformation of radiation quality must be understood to adequately explain the biological response of tissue to heavy ion radiation. A theoretical/experimental program to define an ion beam and its products in extended matter is described.
Ion-beam sputtering increases solar-cell efficiency
Ion-beam sputtering, fabrication of oxide-semiconductor-on-silicon (OSOS) solar cells, results in cells of 12% efficiency. Ion-beam sputtering technique is compatible with low-cost continuous fabrication and requires no high-temperature processing.
Engineering of beam direct conversion for a 120-kV, 1-MW ion beam
Practical systems for beam direct conversion are required to recover the energy from ion beams at high efficiency and at very high beam power densities in the environment of a high-power neutral-injection system. Such an experiment is now in progress using a 120-kV beam with a maximum total current of 20 A. After neutralization, the H(+) component to be recovered will have a power of approximately 1 MW. A system testing these concepts has been designed and tested at 15 kV, 2 kW in preparation for the full-power tests. The engineering problems involved in the full-power tests affect electron suppression, gas pumping, voltage holding, diagnostics, and measurement conditions. Planning for future experiments at higher power includes the use of cryopumping and electron suppression by a magnetic field rather than by an electrostatic field. Beam direct conversion for large fusion experiments and reactors will save millions of dollars in the cost of power supplies and electricity and will dispose of the charged beam under conditions that may not be possible by other techniques.
Design of target irradiation and diagnostic chamber to study ps-laser generated plasma as a source of singly charged ions for external injection into an electron beam ion source
High repetition-rate (~10 kHz) ps-lasers are becoming available on the market with reasonable cost and may offer several advantages compared to ns-lasers by generating nearly continuous beams of singly charged ions appropriate for the “slow” injection mode into the Electron Beam Ion Source (EBIS). To evaluate these advantages, we will perform studies of a ps-laser generated plasma using a laser with a pulse duration of 8 ps and energy up to 5 mJ per pulse. A vacuum chamber equipped with a 3D target positioner, a focusing lens, and a Faraday Cup has been designed and built for this study. Lens-to-target distance variations have been measured using a laser tracker over the whole range of horizontal and vertical translation for all five targets we will use. The variations were found to be within ±150 µm. This level of “target flatness” should be acceptable for our experimental conditions. Ion currents and ion pulse durations of various elements (from Al to Ta) will be measured for different target irradiation conditions (focal spot size and laser pulse energy). The results obtained will allow us to specify all parameters and geometry of a laser ion source based on a ps-laser to provide external ion injection into the relativistic heavy ion collider EBIS
Observations of the artificially injected Porcupine xenon ion beam in the ionosphere
Results are given of ion beam injection experiments performed in the auroral ionosphere in connection with the German Sounding Rocket Project Porcupine. A heavy (xenon) ion beam was injected into the collisionless ionospheric plasma approximately perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field at altitudes from 190 km to about 450 km. The beam propagates nearly undistorted across the plasma because it is essentially depolarized; at the same time the beam is not current neutralized. This unexpected behavior poses the interconnected problems of how the beam manages to become charge neutralized, how current closure is maintained, and what is the mechanism of depolarization.
Heavy ion beam probe measurements of radial potential profiles in the modified Penning discharge
A heavy ion beam probe was used to examine the radial potential profile of a plasma in the modified Penning discharge. The plasma has strong (approximately kV) electrostatic potentials near the anode ring which can be a large fraction of the injected ion beam energy. A primary (singly ionized) thallium ion beam is injected through the plasma in the midplane of a double Penning anode ring. After passage through the plasma, primary and secondary (doubly ionized) ions are detected with either a set of flat probes or an electrostatic energy analyzer. A calculation of the primary orbit through the plasma is performed to obtain an approximation to the measured primary beam trajectory. As the real radial potential profile is unknown, an adjustable model is used in the computer program. The adjustable potential profile is varied until the best agreement between measured and calculated trajectories is obtained. Secondary orbits are also predicted using the best fitting adjustable profile. The calculations indicate that secondary beams originating at more than one point in the plasma can be simultaneously observed at the electrostatic analyzer with certain primary beam initial conditions.
A preliminary model of ion beam neutralization
A theoretical model of neutralized thruster ion beam plasmas has been developed. The basic premise is that the beam forms an electrostatic trap for the neutralizing electrons. A Maxwellian spectrum of electron energies is maintained by collisions between trapped electrons and by collective randomization of velocities of electrons injected from the neutralizer into the surrounding plasma. The theory contains the observed barometric law relationship between electron density and electron temperatures and ion beam spreading in good agreement with measured results.
Ion Beam Characterization of a NEXT Multi-Thruster Array Plume
Three operational, engineering model, 7-kW ion thrusters and one instrumented, dormant thruster were installed in a cluster array in a large vacuum facility at NASA Glenn Research Center. A series of engineering demonstration tests were performed to evaluate the system performance impacts of operating various multiple-thruster configurations in an array. A suite of diagnostics was installed to investigate multiple-thruster operation impact on thruster performance and life, thermal interactions, and alternative system modes and architectures. The ion beam characterization included measuring ion current density profiles and ion energy distribution with Faraday probes and retarding potential analyzers, respectively. This report focuses on the ion beam characterization during single thruster operation, multiple thruster operation, various neutralizer configurations, and thruster gimbal articulation. Comparison of beam profiles collected during single and multiple thruster operation demonstrated the utility of superimposing single engine beam profiles to predict multi-thruster beam profiles. High energy ions were detected in the region 45 off the thruster axis, independent of thruster power, number of operating thrusters, and facility background pressure, which indicated that the most probable ion energy was not effected by multiple-thruster operation. There were no significant changes to the beam profiles collected during alternate thruster-neutralizer configurations, therefore supporting the viability of alternative system configuration options. Articulation of one thruster shifted its beam profile, whereas the beam profile of a stationary thruster nearby did not change, indicating there were no beam interactions which was consistent with the behavior of a collisionless beam expansion.
Observations of the right-hand resonant ion beam instability in the distant plasma sheet boundary layer
Examples of the onset of a resonant ion beam instability are illustrated on the basis of ISEE 3 observations of 66 large amplitude wave events at the plasma sheet boundary layer. Analysis of the observational data showed that the observed wave and ion beam parameters were, in general, in agreement with linear theoretical predictions of resonant ion beam instability. The distribution of ion energies at the onset of the instability is given in a table.
Ion beam sputtering of fluoropolymers
Etching and deposition of fluoropolymers are of considerable industrial interest for applications dealing with adhesion, chemical inertness, hydrophobicity, and dielectric properties. This paper describes ion beam sputter processing rates as well as pertinent characteristics of etched targets and films. An argon ion beam source was used to sputter etch and deposit the fluoropolymers PTFE, FEP, and CTFE. Ion beam energy, current density, and target temperature were varied to examine effects on etch and deposition rates. The ion etched fluoropolymers yield cone or spire-like surface structures which vary depending upon the type of polymer, ion beam power density, etch time, and target temperature. Also presented are sputter target and film characteristics which were documented by spectral transmittance measurements, X-ray diffraction, ESCA, and SEM photomicrographs.
Chemically assisted ion beam etching of polycrystalline and (100)tungsten
A chemically assisted ion-beam etching technique is described which employs an ion beam from an electron-bombardment ion source and a directed flux of ClF3 neutrals. This technique enables the etching of tungsten foils and films in excess of 40 microns thick with good anisotropy and pattern definition over areas of 30 sq mm, and with a high degree of selectivity. (100) tungsten foils etched with this process exhibit preferred-orientation etching, while polycrystalline tungsten films exhibit high etch rates. This technique can be used to pattern the dispenser cathode surfaces serving as electron emitters in traveling-wave tubes to a controlled porosity.
Ion beam divergence characteristics of three-grid accelerator systems
A comprehensive experimental investigation of the geometrical and operating conditions which affect most strongly the ion beam divergence of three-grid accelerator systems is presented. Three-grid accelerator systems are shown to offer significant improvements in ion beam focusing over two-grid accelerator systems. These improvements are greatest for low, but limited, net-to-total accelerating voltage ratio ranges and small screen-to-accelerator grid separation ratios (i.e., high perveance grid sets). Ion beam focusing gains are negligible at a net-to-total accelerating voltage ratio near unity. Low decelerator grid impingement currents and low ion beam divergence angles require that the decelerator hole diameter be about twenty five percent larger than the accelerator hole diameter, also that the decelerator grid be spaced as close as is practically possible to the accelerator grid.
The Importance of the Cathode Plume and Its Interactions with the Ion Beam in Numerical Simulations of Hall Thrusters
Hall2De is a first-principles, 2-D axisymmetric code that solves the equations of motion for ions, electrons, and neutrals on a magnetic-field-aligned grid. The computational domain downstream of the acceleration channel exit plane is large enough to include self-consistently the cathode boundary. In this paper, we present results from numerical simulations of the H6 laboratory thruster with an internally mounted cathode, with the aim of highlighting the importance of properly accounting for the interactions between the ion beam and cathode plume. The anomalous transport of electrons across magnetic field lines in Hall2De is modelled using an anomalous collision frequency, νanom, yielding νanom approximately equal to omega ce (i.e., the electron cyclotron frequency) in the plume. We first show that restricting the anomalous collision frequency to only regions where the current density of ions is large does not alter the plasma discharge in the Hall thruster as long as the interaction between the ion beam and the cathode plume is captured properly in the computational domain. This implies that the boundary conditions must be placed sufficiently far as to not interfere with the electron transport in this region. These simulation results suggest that electron transport across magnetic field lines occurs largely inside the beam and may be driven by the interactions between beam ions and electrons. A second finding that puts in relevance the importance of including the cathode plume in numerical simulations is on the significance of accounting for the ion acoustic turbulence (IAT), now known to occur in the vicinity of the cathode exit. We have included in the Hall2De simulations a model of the IAT-driven anomalous collision frequency based on Sagdeev's model for saturation of the ion-acoustic instability. This implementation has allowed us to achieve excellent agreement with experimental measurements in the near plume obtained during the operation of the H6 thruster at nominal conditions (300V, 20A) and chamber background pressure of approximately 1.5 x 10(exp -5) Torr. In addition, the numerical results obtained with the latter approach exhibit less sensitivity to background pressure than previous attempts at explaining the features of the plasma properties in the near plume.
Ion beam sputtering in electric propulsion facilities
Experiments were undertaken to determine sputter yields of potential ion beam target materials, to assess the impact of charge exchange on beam diagnostics in large facilities, and to examine material erosion and deposition after a 957 hr test of a 5 kW-class ion thruster. The xenon ion sputter yield of flexible graphite was lower than other graphite forms especially at high angles of incidence. Ion beam charge exchange effects were found to hamper beam probe current collection diagnostics even at pressures from 0.7 to 1.7 mPa. Estimates of the xenon ion beam envelope were made and predictions of the thickness of sputter deposited coatings in the facility were compared with measurements.
Ion beam sputtering in electric propulsion facilities
Experiments were undertaken to determine sputter yields of potential ion beam target materials, to assess the impact of charge exchange on beam diagnostics in large facilities, and to examine material erosion and deposition after a 957-hour test of a 5 kW-class ion thruster. The xenon ion sputter yield of flexible graphite was lower than other graphite forms especialy at high angles of incidence. Ion beam charge exchange effects were found to hamper beam probe current collection diagnostics even at pressures from 0.7 to 1.7 mPa. Estimates of the xenon ion beam envelope were made and predictions of the thickness of sputter deposited coatings in the facility were compared with measurements.