Conditioning of Ion Sources for Mass Spectrometry of Plasmas

摘要

Mass spectrometry is a useful diagnostic technique for monitoring plasma species and plasma-surface interactions. In order to maximize the sensitivity of measurements of hydrogen-fueled fusion plasmas or hydrogen-based discharge cleaning and etching plasmas, the ion sources of mass spectrometers are operated at or near the high pressure limit of 10 exp -4 Torr (10 exp -2 Pa). Such high ambient pressures of hydrogen give rise to high background levels of residual gases such as H sub 2 O, CO, and CH sub 4 , due to surface reactions on the ion source electrodes. For a commonly used ion source configuration, the residual gas production is a linear function of the ambient H sub 2 pressure. Hydrogen conditioning can reduce the absolute residual gas levels. Steady-state residual gas production is observed in a conditioned ion source, which is related to a balance of diffusion and sorption on the electrode surfaces. (ERA citation 08:024769)