小功率霍尔推力器研究现状及展望

为了有效应对深空探测任务的复杂要求,尤其是在引力波检测等具有挑战性的任务中,迫切需要对现有的霍尔推力器技术进行小型化和小功率化(功率范围25~500W)改进。目前,国内外关于小功率霍尔推力器的研究已取得一定进展,但仍面临许多技术难题和挑战。通过对现有文献和研究成果的综合调研,深入分析了环形霍尔推力器、会切场霍尔推力器、圆柱形霍尔推力器、永磁体霍尔推力器和无通道霍尔推力器等五种主要类型的小功率霍尔推力器。这些推力器在小功率化过程中,均面临着效率不够高、寿命不够长和可靠性不够强等技术难点。鉴于此,文章分析了这些技术挑战,并基于当前的技术瓶颈,提出了几种可行的研究方向和优化策略,旨在推动小功率霍尔推力器技术的进一步发展,以更好地服务于未来的深空探测任务,期望通过这些研究,为霍尔推力器技术的未来发展提供参考和发展建议。

Effects of external parameters on plasma characteristics and uniformity in a dual cylindrical inductively coupled plasma

The dual cylindrical inductively coupled plasma source,compared to the conventional structure of inductively coupled plasma source,can significantly improve the uniformity of plasma.It has an enhanced potential for application in processes,such as etching and ashing.A uniform plasma can be obtained by allowing the remote plasma from the upper chamber modulate the main plasma generated in the lower chamber.In this study,a fluid model was employed to investigate a dual cylindrical inductively coupled Ar/O_(2)discharge.The effects of external parameters on electron density,electron temperature,O atomic density,and plasma uniformity in the main chamber were studied,and the reasons were analyzed.The results of this study show that remote power can control the plasma uniformity and increase the plasma density in the main chamber.As the remote power increased,plasma uniformity improved initially and then deteriorated.The main power affected the plasma density at the edge of the main chamber and can modulate the plasma density in the main chamber.The gas pressure affected both the uniformity and density of the plasma.As the gas pressure increased,the plasma uniformity deteriorated,but the free radical density improved.

Fluid simulation of the effect of a dielectric window with high temperature on plasma parameters in inductively coupled plasma

To maintain the high-density plasma source in inductively coupled plasma(ICP),very high radiofrequency power is often delivered to the antenna,which can heat the dielectric windows near the antenna to high temperature.This high temperature can modulate the plasma characteristics to a large degree.We thus study the effect of dielectric window temperature on plasma parameters in two different ICP structures based on COMSOL software.The distributions of various plasma species are examined at different dielectric window temperatures.The concentration of neutral gas is found to be largely modulated at high dielectric window temperature,which further affects the electron collision probability with neutrals and the electron temperature.However,the electron density profiles are barely affected by the dielectric window temperature,which is mainly concentrated at the center of the reactor due to the fixed power input and pressure.

射频离子推力器研究进展

射频离子推力器由于高比冲、长寿命、高效率等优点在电推进领域中占有重要地位.为了进一步缩减推进系统的质量和体积,降低成本,一些新型射频离子推力器相继出现,其中无中和器射频离子推力器备受关注.对传统射频离子推力器的国内外研究及发展现状进行了总结,分析了射频离子推进技术中涉及的关键技术,概述了无中和器射频离子推力器的原理及研究进展,给出了射频离子推力器的发展方向和建议.

Measurements of argon metastable density using the tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy in Ar and Ar/O2

Densities of Ar metastable states 1s5 and 1s3 are measured by using the tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy（TDLAS） in Ar and Ar/O2 mixture dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasma（DF-CCP）. We investigate the effects of high-frequency（HF, 60 MHz） power, low-frequency（LF, 2 MHz） power, and working pressure on the density of Ar metastable states for three different gas components（0%, 5%, and 10% oxygen mixed in argon）. The dependence of Ar metastable state density on the oxygen content is also studied at different working pressures. It is found that densities of Ar metastable states in discharges with different gas components exhibit different behaviors as HF power increases. With the increase of HF power, the metastable density increases rapidly at the initial stage, and then tends to be saturated at a higher HF power. With a small fraction（5% or 10%） of oxygen added in argon plasma, a similar change of the Ar metastable density with HF power can be observed, but the metastable density is saturated at a higher HF power than in the pure argon discharge. In the DF-CCP, the metastable density is found to be higher than in a single frequency discharge, and has weak dependence on LF power. As working pressure increases, the metastable state density first increases and then decreases,and the pressure value, at which the density maximum occurs, decreases with oxygen content increasing. Besides, adding a small fraction of oxygen into argon plasma will significantly dwindle the metastable state density as a result of quenching loss by oxygen molecules.

Experimental investigation of the electromagnetic effect and improvement of the plasma radial uniformity in a large-area,very-high frequency capacitive argon discharge

We performed an experimental investigation on the electromagnetic effect and the plasma radial uniformity in a larger-area, cylindrical capacitively coupled plasma reactor. By utilizing a floating hairpin probe, dependences of the plasma radial density on the driving frequency and the radio-frequency power over a wide pressure range of 5-40 Pa were presented. At a relatively low frequency(LF, e.g. 27 MHz), an evident peak generally appears near the electrode edge for all pressures investigated here due to the edge field effect, while at a very high frequency(VHF, e.g.60 or 100 MHz), the plasma density shows a sharp peak at the discharge center at lower pressures, indicating a strong standing wave effect. As the RF power increases, the center-peak structure of plasma density becomes more evident. With increasing the pressure, the standing wave effect is gradually overwhelmed by the ‘stop band’ effect, resulting in a transition in the plasma density profile from a central peak to an edge peak. To improve the plasma radial uniformity, a LF source is introduced into the VHF plasma by balancing the standing wave effect with the edge effect. A much better plasma uniformity can be obtained if one chooses appropriate LF powers, pressures and other corresponding discharge parameters.