Study of Three Different Types of Plasma Ion Sources

Three types of plasma ion sources designed, manufactured and optimized in the Accelerators and Ion Sources Department, Nuclear Research Center, Atomic Energy Authority are introduced. Different means were investigated to generate the discharge current and ion beam current extracted from the plasma. The various plasmas described include a DC glow discharge plasma, an arc discharge plasma and a radio frequency discharge plasma.

A Modified Cold Molybdenum Cathode Penning Ion Source

In this paper, design and construction of a modified cold molybdenum cathode Penning ion source was described. It consists of copper cylindrical anode with two cone ends and two movable cold molybdenum cathodes. The two cathodes were placed symmetrically at two ends of the anode. The modifications were decrease the length of the cylindrical anode to 4 cm instead of 6 cm, transform the copper emission electrode shape from plate of 40 mm length, 25 mm width and 2 mm thickness to disc of 20 mm diameter and 2 mm thickness and transform the inner uncovered area of the emission electrode from slit of 30 mm length and 10 mm width to disc of 5 mm diameter. The copper emission electrode was placed in the middle of the cylindrical anode and has aperture in the center of different diameters. Faraday cup was placed at different distances from the emission electrode aperture. The electrical discharge and the output ion beam characteristics of the modified ion source were measured at different pressures using argon gas. It was found that the optimum operating conditions of the modified ion source are; anode-cathode distance equal to 6 mm, emission electrode aperture diameter equal to 2.5 mm and emission electrode aperture, Faraday cup distance equals 3 cm. The effect of axial samarium cobalt permanent magnet of intensity equal to 300 Gauss on the discharge characteristics of the ion source was determined.

Analytical and simulation studies for diode and triode ion beam extraction systems

This work is concerned with ion beam dynamics and compares the emittance to aberration ratios of two-and three-electrode extraction systems. The study is conducted with the aid of Version 7 of SIMION 3D ray-tracing software. The beam dependence on various parameters of the extraction systems is studied and the numerical results lead to qualitative conclusions. Ion beam characteristics using diode and triode extraction systems are investigated with the aid of the computer code SIMION 3 D, Version 7.0. The diode （two electrode extraction system） and triode （three- electrode extraction, acceleration-deceleration system） extraction systems are designed and optimized with different geometric parameters of the electrode system, voltage applied to the extraction electrode, and plasma parameters inside the ion source chamber, as well as by the ion beam space charge. This work attempts to describe the importance of the acceleration-deceleration extraction system. It shows that besides an increase of the beam energy, the ion beam has lower emittance than the two-electrode extraction system. Ion beams of the highest quality are extracted whenever the half-angular divergence is minimum for which the perveance current intensity and the extraction gap have optimum value. Knowing the electron temperature of the plasma is necessary to determine plasma potential and the exact beam energy.

Simulation of ion beam extraction and focusing system

The characteristics of ion beam extraction and focused to a volume as small as possible were investigated with the aid of computer code SIMION 3D version 7. This has been used to evaluate the extraction characteristics （accel-decel system） to generate an ion beam with low beam emittance and high brightness. The simulation process can provide a good study for optimizing the extraction and focusing system of the ion beam without any losses and transported to the required target. Also, a study of a simulation model for the extraction system of the ion source was used to describe the possible plasma boundary curvatures during the ion extraction that may be affected by the change in an extraction potential with a constant plasma density meniscus.