Experiment study of an electron cyclotron resonant ion source based on a tapered resonance cavity

摘要

Electron cyclotron resonant plasma is one type of magnetised plasma generated by continuous microwave energy. It has the property of high degree of ionization and large volume at low gas pressure, which makes it useful for space propulsion and material processing. This article presents the experiment study of the plasma properties and ion beam extraction from an electron cyclotron resonant ion source based on a tapered resonance cavity. Optical emission spectroscopy based on a simple collisional radiation model was used for plasma diagnosis. Experiment results show that, at microwave power setting ranging from 7.06 to 17.40W and mass flow rate ranging from 1 to 10 sccm, argon gas can be ionized. Ion beam of 109.1mA from the ion source can be extracted at microwave power of 30 W, mass flow rate of 10 sccm, and accel voltage of 800 V. The diagnosed plasma temperature and density are 2.4-5.2 eV and 2×10~(16)-4.8×10~(17)m~(-3), respectively.