Pseudospark produced pulsed electron beam for material processing

Author

Stark, Robert ; Christiansen, Jens ; Frank, Klaus ; Mücke, Friedrich ; Stetter, Michael

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys., Erlangen-Nurnberg Univ., Germany

Volume

23

Issue

3

fYear

1995

fDate

6/1/1995 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

258

Lastpage

264

Abstract

An intense pulsed electron beam produced by a pseudospark discharge is used for material processing. The electron beam propagates in a self-focused manner in the background gas. Hardly 12 ns after the beginning of the discharge the fraction of space charge neutralization is about 96%. To sustain the neutralization effect high energy electrons (E <500 keV) are accelerated in radial direction at the beam head, due to strong electric field gradients. At current maximum the beam pinches due to its own magnetic field. At peak current of 400 A and charging voltage up to 16 kV power density reaches 10⁹ W/cm ² on the target surface. Some results of copper thin films are presented. Due to the high expansion velocity of 10⁴ m/s of the ablated target material a copper-matrix has been masked

Keywords

electron beam applications; materials preparation; plasma applications; space charge; sparks; 16 kV; 400 A; Cu thin films; beam pinch; electric field gradients; electron beam self-focused propagation; intense pulsed electron beam; magnetic field; material processing; pseudospark produced pulsed electron beam; space charge neutralization; target material ablation; Acceleration; Copper; Electron beams; Magnetic fields; Magnetic heads; Materials processing; Particle beams; Space charge; Surface charging; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/27.402311

Filename

402311