Ion-ion Plasma Research Articles

Development status, key technologies, and prospects of neutralizer-free ion thrusters

<p indent="0mm">The ion thruster is one of the most widely used electric thrusters and is famous for its high specific impulse and efficiency, but there are some shortcomings of the conventional ion thruster, such as the complex structure and the difficulty of miniaturization. One of the most attractive solutions to make up for these shortcomings is the neutralizer-free ion thruster which can reduce the volume and mass of the ion propulsion system and improve the system reliability by canceling the neutralizer system. In this review, the principles, strengths, and weaknesses of the conventional ion thruster are summarized, which leads to the concept of the neutralizer-free ion thruster. Combined with the operations of ion thrusters in real space missions, the advantages of removing neutralizer systems are analyzed. According to the neutralization methods, the neutralizer-free ion thruster can be divided into two types which are the electronegative ion thruster and RF (radio-frequency) ion thruster based on the self-bias effect. At present, the neutralizer-free ion thruster is mainly developed in Europe, Japan, and the United States of America. Researchers in China also perform some numerical and experimental studies on the neutralizer-free ion thruster, but there is still no report on the relatively mature prototype model. Lastly, based on the application requirements of the space propulsion and characteristics of the neutralizer-free ion thruster, the key technologies of the neutralizer-free ion thruster are discussed: (1) For the sake of prolonging the service life and improving the beam performance, the choice of propellant in neutralizer-free ion thrusters, especially the electronegative ion thruster where the propellant should be electronegative, needs more consideration than conventional ion thrusters. (2) The voltages applied on the grid system are generally AC voltages. Thus, to extract the collimated ion beams with high neutralization degree, the determination of the frequency and amplitude of grid voltages should consider many factors, such as the propellant type, insulation design, and plasma properties. (3) The adjustment of the working mode becomes more complex in the neutralizer-free ion thruster, since it is more difficult to adjust the AC grid voltage than conventional DC grid voltages and the relationship between the AC grid voltage and thruster performance also needs further investigations. (4) The magnetic filter plays an important role in the electronegative ion thruster, but it should be optimized because it increases the volume and weight of the thruster and weakens the advantages of the neutralizer-free ion thruster. (5) The ion-ion plasma in the electronegative ion thruster and the sheath near the grid with AC voltages make the plasma characteristics in the neutralizer-free ion thruster quite different from the conventional ion thruster. It is critical to perform more studies on the plasma physics of the neutralizer-free ion thruster to better design the thruster and adjust its performance. Accordingly, it’s concluded that the investigations of the choice of the propellant, design of the magnetic filter and grid system, plasma physics, and flexible regulation method of the grid voltage should be focused on. Moreover, to further understand the performance of the neutralizer-free ion thruster, new methods for diagnosing this new type of thruster need to be developed.

Effect of ion beam current on dust charge fluctuations and ion-acoustic waves in electronegative dusty plasmas

The effects of ion beam current associated with the streaming positive ions on the dust charge fluctuations and ion acoustic wave propagation in quiescent electronegative dusty plasma have been investigated using fluid theory. The dust charging phenomenon and unstable mode of ion waves are modified for two streaming conditions of positive ions which are extended and graphically illustrated. The dependencies of the growing and damping rate of ion waves on dust density and the size of dust grains are studied. The evolution of dust surface potential is found in the negative domain with the increase in concentration of negative ions and the instability rate for ion wave decreases. Furthermore, it is shown that the dust surface potential shifts into positive domain as the electrons are significantly depleted (and the plasma becomes ion-ion plasma) from the electronegative plasma and thus ion waves exhibit a damping phenomenon.

Effect of DC Biased Voltage and Ion Temperature on Bounded Ion-Ion Plasma

A one dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation method has been employed to study the effect of DC voltage and ion temperature on the properties of ion-ion plasma bounded by two symmetrical but oppositely biased electrodes. It is assumed that the ion-ion plasma is collisionless and both the positive and negative ion species have the same mass, temperature, and degree of ionization. Simulation results show that the formation of sheath and presheath regions and fluctuation of plasma parameters in that region are affected by the biasing voltage and ion temperature. It was found that the magnitude of the electrostatic electric field at the vicinity of biasing electrodes was affected by the biasing voltage and ion temperature as well. This strong electric field close to the electrodes further prevents the flow of charged particles towards the electrodes. The presence of a non-zero electric field at the quasineutral region suggests a presheath region similar to the electron-ion plasma. In the quasineutral region, the density of ions increased with the increase in biasing voltage and decreased with the increase in temperature of isothermal ions. Furthermore, the phase space diagrams for the ions were obtained which indicated different regions of the plasma. The positive ions acquire negative velocity towards the negatively biased electrode and the negative ions acquire positive velocity towards the positively biased electrode.

Apokampic Discharge: Formation Conditions and Mechanisms

The experimental and theoretical investigations of a new form of burning of a repetitively-pulsed discharge – apokamp – are performed. It is shown that an apokampic discharge represents a narrow streamer channel, growing from the point of plasma channel bending, having a characteristic propagation velocity of tens and hundreds of meters per second, depending on the applied voltage and gas pressure and type. The conditions necessary for an apokamp to evolve are formed in a comparatively weak macroscopic electric field. The channel bend ensures a local field enhancement, which prescribes the starting orientation of the growing streamer channel. The pulse-frequency power supply regime of the discharge reproduces the streamer channel in every pulse, but the preceding framework of the ion-ion plasma ensures reproduction of the channel shape from pulse to pulse.

Influence of magnetic filter and magnetic cage in negative ion production in helicon oxygen plasma

Negative ion rich oxygen plasma at low pressure is produced in a Helicon Plasma Source setup, which is primarily designed to perform electronegative gas plasma experiments including the studies of ion-ion plasma. The negative ion fraction and hence the negative ion density are obtained by using a two probe technique in which the electron current is obtained by using an RF compensated cylindrical Langmuir probe and positive ion saturation current is obtained by using an RF compensated planar probe. By measuring the negative ion fraction, both with and without a magnetic filter, the importance of the magnetic filter field in the production of negative ions in oxygen plasma is investigated. The maximum value of negative ion fraction α (n−/ne) is calculated to be approximately around 9 when the value of temperature ratio γ (Te/T−) is taken as 10. The observed negative ion fraction and other plasma parameters are explained by considering the set of reactions that are involved in the production and loss of negative ions.

Development and characterization of a helicon plasma source.

The Helicon Plasma Source (HeliPS) designed and developed at the Centre of Plasma Physics-Institute for Plasma Research is a versatile helicon plasma device, which operates in a wide range of magnetic field configurations from 50 G to 500 G. This device is dedicated to perform a broad range of research activities. The main objective for development of the HeliPS is to carry out studies on ion-ion plasmas in electronegative gases. In the near future, ion-ion plasmas will be formed in electronegative gases in the downstream of the plasma production region. Although the system is primarily designed to carry out ion-ion plasma experiments, the same system can also be used for experimental studies on some basic helicon plasma properties such as wave propagation, wave coupling, and plasma instability. At present, argon plasma is produced with a RF power supply of 13.56 MHz frequency. External circuit parameters, such as antenna current, plasma resistance (Rp), and internal parameters, such as electron density and temperature, are measured. The details of the experimental setup development, device characteristic, as well as preliminary plasma production and characterization to confirm occurrence of the helicon plasma in the system are presented in this article.

Downstream etching of silicon nitride using continuous-wave and pulsed remote plasma sources sustained in Ar/NF3/O2 mixtures

Remote plasma sources (RPSs) are being investigated to produce fluxes of radicals for low damage material processing. In this computational investigation, the properties of a RPS etching system are discussed where an Ar/NF3/O2 gas mixture is flowed through an inductively coupled plasma source into a downstream chamber containing a silicon nitride coated wafer. The plasma is largely confined in the RPS due to the highly attaching NFx (x = 1–3) and an isolating showerhead although a weak ion-ion plasma maintained by [NO+] ≈ [F−] leaks into the downstream chamber. The etching of silicon nitride proceeds through iterative removal of Si and N subsites by isotropic thermal neutrals. When the fluxes to the wafer are rich in fluorine radicals, the etch rate is limited by the availability of NO molecules and N atoms which remove N subsites. As power deposition increases with continuous-wave excitation, the etch rate increases almost linearly with the increasing fluxes of NO and N atoms, as production of NO through endothermic reactions is aided by increasing gas temperature. Production of N atoms through electron impact dissociation of NO and NFx is aided by the increasing electron density. Similar trends occur when increasing the duty cycle during pulsed excitation. Addition of a plenum between the RPS and the downstream chamber aids in lateral diffusion of radicals before passing through the final showerhead and improves the uniformity of etching.

Striations in electronegative capacitively coupled radio-frequency plasmas: Effects of the pressure, voltage, and electrode gap

Capacitively coupled radio-frequency (CCRF) CF4 plasmas have been found to exhibit a self-organized striated structure at operating conditions, where the plasma is strongly electronegative and the ion-ion plasma in the bulk region (largely composed of CF3+ and F– ions) resonates with the excitation frequency. In this work, we explore the effects of the gas pressure, the RF voltage, and the electrode gap on this striated structure by phase resolved optical emission spectroscopy and particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collisions simulations. The measured electronic excitation patterns at different external parameters show a good general agreement with the spatio-temporal plots of the ionization rate obtained from the simulations. For a fixed driving frequency, the minima of the CF3+ or F– ion densities (between the density peaks in the bulk) are comparable and independent of other external parameters. However, the ion density maxima generally increase as a function of the pressure or RF voltage, leading to the enhanced spatial modulation of plasma parameters. The striation gap (defined as the distance between two ion density peaks) is approximately inversely proportional to the pressure, while it exhibits a weak dependence on the RF voltage and the electrode gap. A transition between the striated and non-striated modes can be observed by changing either the pressure or the RF voltage; for 13.56 and 18 MHz driving frequencies, we present a phase diagram as a function of the pressure and voltage amplitude parameters.

Ion and aerosol precursor densities in Titan's ionosphere: A multi-instrument case study.

The importance of the heavy ions and dust grains for the chemistry and aerosol formation in Titan's ionosphere has been well established in the recent years of the Cassini mission. In this study we combine independent in situ plasma (Radio Plasma and Wave Science Langmuir Probe (RPWS/LP)) and particle (Cassini Plasma Science Electron Spectrometer, Cassini Plasma Science Ion Beam Spectrometer, and Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer) measurements of Titan's ionosphere for selected flybys (T16, T29, T40, and T56) to produce altitude profiles of mean ion masses including heavy ions and develop a Titan-specific method for detailed analysis of the RPWS/LP measurements (applicable to all flybys) to further constrain ion charge densities and produce the first empirical estimate of the average charge of negative ions and/or dust grains. Our results reveal the presence of an ion-ion (dusty) plasma below ~1100 km altitude, with charge densities exceeding the primary ionization peak densities by a factor ≥2 in the terminator and nightside ionosphere (n e /n i ≤ 0.1). We suggest that ion-ion (dusty) plasma may also be present in the dayside ionosphere below 900 km (n e /n i < 0.5 at 1000 km altitude). The average charge of the dust grains (≥1000 amu) is estimated to be between -2.5 and -1.5 elementary charges, increasing toward lower altitudes.

Experimental Observation and Computational Analysis of Striations in Electronegative Capacitively Coupled Radio-Frequency Plasmas.

Self-organized spatial structures in the light emission from the ion-ion capacitive rf plasma of a strongly electronegative gas (CF_{4}) are observed experimentally for the first time. Their formation is analyzed and understood based on particle-based kinetic simulations. These "striations" are found to be generated by the resonance between the driving radio frequency and the eigenfrequency of the ion-ion plasma (derived from an analytical model) that establishes a modulation of the electric field, the ion densities, as well as the energy gain and loss processes of electrons in the plasma. The growth of the instability is followed by the numerical simulations.

Study of ion-ion plasma formation in negative ion sources by a three-dimensional in real space and three-dimensional in velocity space particle in cell model

Recently, in large-scale hydrogen negative ion sources, the experimental results have shown that ion-ion plasma is formed in the vicinity of the extraction hole under the surface negative ion production case. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the mechanism of the ion-ion plasma formation by our three dimensional particle-in-cell simulation. In the present model, the electron loss along the magnetic filter field is taken into account by the “τ///τ⊥ model.” The simulation results show that the ion-ion plasma formation is due to the electron loss along the magnetic filter field. Moreover, the potential profile for the ion-ion plasma case has been looked into carefully in order to discuss the ion-ion plasma formation. Our present results show that the potential drop of the virtual cathode in front of the plasma grid is large when the ion-ion plasma is formed. This tendency has been explained by a relationship between the virtual cathode depth and the net particle flux density at the virtual cathode.

Extraction and neutralization of positive and negative ions from a pulsed electronegative inductively coupled plasma

Almost electron-free (ion-ion) plasmas can be transiently formed during the afterglow phase of pulsed plasmas in electronegative gases. In ion-ion plasmas, both positive and negative ions can be extracted which makes them advantageous for a number of applications. In this paper, we investigate the extraction and acceleration of positive and negative ion beams from a pulsed inductively coupled plasma in SF6. The plasma is bounded by two electrodes biased synchronously with the discharge modulation. It is shown that when a DC bias voltage is applied during the afterglow phase, positive/negative ions are accelerated in a positive/negative space charge sheath formed in front of one of the electrodes. The energy of extracted ions closely follows the amplitude of the applied bias voltage (25–150 V) and the peak beam current density reaches 2 A m−2. With a view to using the described system as a source of energetic neutral beams for low damage material processing, simultaneous extraction and surface neutralization of positive and negative ions using an extraction electrode with high aspect ratio apertures is investigated.

Investigation of the boundary layer during the transition from volume to surface dominated H⁻ production at the BATMAN test facility.

BATMAN (Bavarian Test Machine for Negative ions) is a test facility equipped with a 18 scale H(-) source for the ITER heating neutral beam injection. Several diagnostics in the boundary layer close to the plasma grid (first grid of the accelerator system) followed the transition from volume to surface dominated H(-) production starting with a Cs-free, cleaned source and subsequent evaporation of caesium, while the source has been operated at ITER relevant pressure of 0.3 Pa: Langmuir probes are used to determine the plasma potential, optical emission spectroscopy is used to follow the caesiation process, and cavity ring-down spectroscopy allows for the measurement of the H(-) density. The influence on the plasma during the transition from an electron-ion plasma towards an ion-ion plasma, in which negative hydrogen ions become the dominant negatively charged particle species, is seen in a strong increase of the H(-) density combined with a reduction of the plasma potential. A clear correlation of the extracted current densities (j(H(-)), j(e)) exists with the Cs emission.

Electron-less negative ion extraction from ion-ion plasmas

This paper presents experimental results showing that continuous negative ion extraction, without co-extracted electrons, is possible from highly electronegative SF6 ion-ion plasma at low gas pressure (1 mTorr). The ratio between the negative ion and electron densities is more than 3000 in the vicinity of the two-grid extraction and acceleration system. The measurements are conducted by both magnetized and non-magnetized energy analyzers attached to the external grid. With these two analyzers, we show that the extracted negative ion flux is almost electron-free and has the same magnitude as the positive ion flux extracted and accelerated when the grids are biased oppositely. The results presented here can be used for validation of numerical and analytical models of ion extraction from ion-ion plasma.

Generalization of the Child-Langmuir law to the alternate extraction of positive and negative ions

Using a combined analytical and simulation approach, we investigate positive and negative ion extraction between two electrodes from an ion-ion plasma source. With a square voltage waveform applied to the electrodes, we obtain approximate analytical solutions for the time-averaged extracted current densities, which are given simply by: Jpac=[α−fLMpqpV0]Jpdc, and Jnac=[(1−α)−fLMnqnV0]Jndc, where Jac is the time-averaged current density, α is the square waveform duty cycle, f is the frequency, L is the electrode gap length, M is the ion mass, q is the ion charge, V0 is the applied voltage amplitude, Jdc is the dc extracted current density, and the subscripts p and n refer to positive and negative ions, respectively. In particular, if Jdc is the dc space-charge limited current density, then these equations describe the square waveform generalization of the Child-Langmuir law.

Pulsed Cl2/Ar inductively coupled plasma processing: 0D model versus experiments

Comparisons between measurements and spatially-averaged (0D) simulations of low-pressure Ar and Cl2 pulsed-plasmas in an industrial inductively coupled reactor are reported. Our analysis focuses on the impact of the pulsing parameters (frequency f, duty cycle dc) on the chemical reactivity of the plasma and on the ion fluxes to the walls. Charged particle densities and ion fluxes are highly modulated when the plasma is pulsed at 1 kHz < f < 20 kHz. In rare gas Ar plasmas, the ion flux rise time is short (50 μs), therefore the dc has almost no influence on the ion flux value during the pulse. By contrast, in molecular electronegative Cl2 plasmas, both the value and rise/decay time of the ion flux during the on and off-periods depend strongly on the dc. This is because in Cl2 both the plasma chemistry and electronegativity depend on the dc. During the off-period, the electron density drops much faster than the negative ion density, leading to a large increase in plasma electronegativity. A minimum afterglow time (75 µs) is required for an ion-ion plasma to form and for the sheath to collapse, exposing the walls and wafers to a negative ion flux. The positive ion flux is 3 to 10 times smaller in Cl2 than in Ar for the same operating conditions. In contrast with charged species, the radical (Cl) kinetics are slow and thus the radical density is hardly modulated for f > 1 kHz. However, the dc strongly influences the Cl2/Cl density ratio and is an excellent knob for controlling the plasma chemical reactivity: the higher the dc the higher the Cl density. The trends and quantities in the 0D simulation are in close agreement with experiments. This proves the capacity of global models to reproduce the fundamental features of pulsed plasmas in simple chemistries and to assist the development of pulsed processes.

Decay of a low-pressure oxygen magnetized and unmagnetized plasma

Extraction of negative ions from electronegative plasmas is one of the key issues addressed during the study of these plasmas. One of the widely used methods is the turn off of the electron heating power. This results in the escape of electrons from the plasma and results in the formation of almost pure ion-ion plasma. In the latter case, the plasma sheath collapses, which enables the extraction of negative ions from the plasma. Another method is the application of a large magnetic field to the plasma. If the electrons become magnetized and trapped near the center of discharge chamber, the plasma sheaths near the walls collapse. This also enables the negative ion extraction from the plasma even during the power-on stage. The aim of the present paper is the comparison of these two methods.

Transport of low pressure electronegative SF6 plasma through a localized magnetic filter

The generation of an ion-ion plasma where only few electrons are present in the discharge could be appropriated in the context of ion plasma source applications. We present in this paper results obtained with a one-dimensional fluid model in the context of low pressure electronegative SF6 plasma. Without magnetic field, results show that the electron density is still large in the discharge. With a localized magnetic filter, where the magnetic field strength is such that the transport of the electrons is affected while the transport of ion species remains unmagnetized, we show that a region with a negative–positive ion plasma is found downstream the magnetic filter. The negative ions are produced in the filter due to the decrease of electron temperature. We also find conditions when the plasma sheath near the biased electrode collapses and the negative ion extraction from the plasma becomes possible. In addition, the influence of E × B electron transport on the one-dimensional model results is discussed.

Experimental validation of the dual positive and negative ion beam acceleration in the plasma propulsion with electronegative gases thruster

The PEGASES (Plasma Propulsion with Electronegative Gases) thruster is a gridded ion thruster, where both positive and negative ions are accelerated to generate thrust. In this way, additional downstream neutralization by electrons is redundant. To achieve this, the thruster accelerates alternately positive and negative ions from an ion-ion plasma where the electron density is three orders of magnitude lower than the ion densities. This paper presents a first experimental study of the alternate acceleration in PEGASES, where SF6 is used as the working gas. Various electrostatic probes are used to investigate the source plasma potential and the energy, composition, and current of the extracted beams. We show here that the plasma potential control in such system is key parameter defining success of ion extraction and is sensitive to both parasitic electron current paths in the source region and deposition of sulphur containing dielectric films on the grids. In addition, large oscillations in the ion-ion plasma potential are found in the negative ion extraction phase. The oscillation occurs when the primary plasma approaches the grounded parts of the main core via sub-millimetres technological inputs. By controlling and suppressing the various undesired effects, we achieve perfect ion-ion plasma potential control with stable oscillation-free operation in the range of the available acceleration voltages (±350 V). The measured positive and negative ion currents in the beam are about 10 mA for each component at RF power of 100 W and non-optimized extraction system. Two different energy analyzers with and without magnetic electron suppression system are used to measure and compare the negative and positive ion and electron fluxes formed by the thruster. It is found that at alternate ion-ion extraction the positive and negative ion energy peaks are similar in areas and symmetrical in position with +/− ion energy corresponding to the amplitude of the applied acceleration voltage.

Controlled deposition of sulphur-containing semiconductor and dielectric nano-structured films on metals in SF6 ion-ion plasma

In the present paper, the deposition processes and formation of films in SF6 ion-ion plasma, with positive and negative ion flows accelerated to the surface, are investigated. The PEGASES (acronym for Plasma Propulsion with Electronegative GASES) source is used as an ion-ion plasma source capable of generating almost ideal ion-ion plasma with negative ion to electron density ratio more than 2500. It is shown that film deposition in SF6 ion-ion plasma is very sensitive to the polarity of the incoming ions. The effect is observed for Cu, W, and Pt materials. The films formed on Cu electrodes during negative and positive ion assisted deposition were analyzed. Scanning electron microscope analysis has shown that both positive and negative ion fluxes influence the copper surface and leads to film formation, but with different structures of the surface: the low-energy positive ion bombardment causes the formation of a nano-pored film transparent for ions, while the negative ion bombardment leads to a continuous smooth insulating film. The transversal size of the pores in the porous film varies in the range 50–500 nm, and further analysis of the film has shown that the film forms a diode together with the substrate preventing positive charge drain, and positive ions are neutralized by passing through the nano-pores. The film obtained with the negative ion bombardment has an insulating surface, but probably with a multi-layer structure: destroying the top surface layer allows to measure similar “diode” IV-characteristics as for the nano-pored film case. Basing on results, practical conclusions for the probes and electrodes cleaning in ion-ion SF6 plasmas have been made. Different applications are proposed for the discovered features of the controlled deposition from ion-ion plasmas, from Li-sulphur rechargeable batteries manufacturing and nanofluidics issues to the applications for microelectronics, including low-k materials formation.