Design and Construction of a Microwave Plasma Ion Source

TL;DR

This paper details the design and construction of a microwave plasma ion source that generates hydrogen plasma and extracts ions, including system setup, plasma parameters measurement, and ion trajectory simulation.

Contribution

It presents a novel microwave ion source design with integrated plasma generation, ion extraction, and simulation, advancing ion source technology.

Findings

Successful hydrogen plasma generation at 2.45 GHz and 700 W

Effective ion extraction with measurable ion currents

Simulation of ion trajectories aligns with experimental results

Abstract

This thesis is about the designing and constructing a microwave ion source. The ions are generated in a thermal and dense hydrogen plasma by microwave induction. The plasma is generated by using a microwave source with a frequency of 2.45 GHz and a power of 700 W. The generated microwave is pulsing with a frequency of 50 Hz. The designed and constructed microwave system generates hydrogen plasma in a pyrex plasma chamber. Moreover, an ion extraction unit is designed and constructed in order to extract the ions from the generated hydrogen plasma. The ion beam extraction is achieved and ion currents are measured. The plasma parameters are determined by a double Langmuir probe and the ion current is measured by a Faraday cup. The designed ion extraction unit is simulated by using the dimensions of the designed and constructed ion extraction unit in order to trace out the trajectories of the extracted ions.