Enhanced highly charged ion production using a metal-dielectric liner in the KVI 14 GHz ECR ion source

Abstract

Forming on an aluminum surface a dielectric layer of alumina (aluminum oxide) in order to create a metal-dielectric (MD) structure increases the secondary-electron emission properties. The idea of using this material as a MD (Al–Al2O3) cylindrical liner inside an ECR ion source was previously tested in the 14 GHz ECRIS of IKF (Frankfurt/Main, Germany). The purpose of the present experiment was to observe the effect of such a MD liner on the high charge state operation of the KVI 14 GHz ECRIS, in particular in comparison to the technique of gas mixing. Measurements were made both with and without the MD liner, with pure argon and with an argon plus oxygen mixture. In the case of pure argon, the source with the MD liner is running remarkably stable. The high charge state ion beam currents are by far higher than those obtained in the situation where the source was operated with pure argon but without the MD liner. With MD liner, some low intensity oxygen peaks were clearly present in the spectra, implying that oxygen escaping or sputtered from the MD structure could give rise to an effect of “gas mixing.” Therefore, the effect of mixing small amounts of oxygen into an argon plasma without the liner was studied in the same conditions of rf power and O3+ peak intensity. The conclusion was that the high charge state beam increase is not due to the oxygen gas mixing effect. The reason for the good performances of the source in the presence of the MD liner can be the increased density of cold electrons, but other effects could occur as well. This is subject of further studies.