Simulation of a Hyperbolic Field Energy Analyzer

TL;DR

This paper presents a simulation study of the Hyperbolic Field Energy Analyzer (HFEA), demonstrating its ability to discriminate particle energies and determine plasma ion temperatures and densities.

Contribution

The work introduces a detailed simulation of the HFEA device, highlighting its capacity for plasma diagnostics in low-density ion environments.

Findings

Particle trajectories inside the sensor were successfully simulated.

The HFEA can accurately reproduce input energy distributions.

IV characteristics were obtained through voltage sweeps.

Abstract

Energy analyzers are important plasma diagnostic tools with applications in a broad range of disciplines including molecular spectroscopy, electron microscopy, basic plasma physics, plasma etching, plasma processing, and ion sputtering technology. The Hyperbolic Field Energy Analyzer (HFEA) is a novel device able to determine ion and electron energy spectra and temperatures. The HFEA is well suited for ion temperature and density diagnostics at those situations where ions are scarce. A simulation of the capacities of the HFEA to discriminate particles of a particular energy level, as well as to determine temperature and density is performed in this work. The electric field due the combination of the conical elements, collimator lens, and Faraday cup applied voltage was computed in a well suited three-dimensional grid. The field is later used to compute the trajectory of a set of particles with a predetermined energy distribution. The results include the observation of the particle trajectories inside the sensor, the comparison of the input energy distribution to the energy distribution of the particles captured by the Faraday cup, and the IV characteristic at the Faraday cup, using the voltage sweep at the conical elements as the abscissa.