Abstract
Using an energy-resolved mass spectrometer situated behind a specially designed electrically isolated target boundary, the bombarding ion energy distribution function (IEDF) in an electron beam-plasma discharge at low pressure (<0.26 Pa) has been determined. The collimated electron beam (mean energies 50-180 eV and beam currents up to 3 mA) incident upon the collisionless sheath of the target boundary was found to sink its floating potential down to approximately the voltage equivalent of the beam energy. The measured IEDFs were found to agree well with predictions of broad distribution functions with long low-energy tails obtained from a modified Tonks-Langmuir model of the collisionless beam-plasma boundary.
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