Radiofrequency and 2.45 GHz electron cyclotron resonance H− volume production ion sources

Abstract
The volume production of negative hydrogen ions (H-) in plasma ion sources is based on dissociative electron attachment (DEA)to rovibrationally excited hydrogen molecules(H2), which is a two-step process requiring both, hot electrons for ionization, and vibrational excitation of the H2 and cold electrons for the H- formation through DEA. Traditionally H- ion sources relying on the volume production have been tandem-type arc discharge sources equipped with biased filament cathodes sustaining the plasma by thermionic electron emission and with a magnetic filter separating the main discharge from the H- formation volume. The main motivation to develop ion sources based on radiofrequency (RF) or electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma discharges is to eliminate the apparent limitation of the cathode lifetime. In this paper we summarize the principles of H- volume production dictating the ion source design and highlight the differences between the arc discharge and RF/ECR ion sources from both, physics and technology point-of-view. Furthermore, we introduce the state-of-the-art RF and ECR H- volume production ion sources and review the challenges and future prospects of these yet developing technologies.
Main Authors
Format
Articles Review article
Published
2016
Series
Subjects
Publication in research information system
Publisher
Institute of Physics Publishing Ltd.; Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft
The permanent address of the publication
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-201611174648Use this for linking
Review status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1367-2630
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/18/10/105008
Language
English
Published in
New Journal of Physics
Citation
License
Open Access
Copyright© 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons License.

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