Study of plasma transport across magnetic filter in low temperature plasmas using 2D-3v PIC-MCC kinetic model

Several low-temperature plasma sources such as magnetron discharges, negative ion sources, Hall thrusters, electron cyclotron resonance plasma source, and end-hall sources operate using low magnetic filter fields at low pressures. Magnetic fields used in such sources are low enough (< 7 mT) that only magnetize electrons and ions remain un-magnetized or weakly magnetized. Magnetic filter fields in such devices cool down electrons to avoid high energy electron collisions, however the presence of drifts and instabilities in the magnetic filter region leads to complex plasma transport. Several experimental and simulation works have been carried out to understand anomalous plasma transport in such low-temperature devices [1][2], however a complete clarity on this issue still remains to be achieved. We have developed an in-house parallel 2D-3V Particlein-Cell Monte-Carlo Collision (PIC MCC) kinetic model for a detailed understanding of the plasma transport across the magnetic field in the context of negative ion sources [3][4]. ROBIN is an RF-Oriented Beam source in India installed in IPR, India [5]. In such a negative ion source magnetic field suppress the hot electrons and reduce negative ion destruction by dissociative attachment. For efficient negative ion beam generation, the source needs uniform low energy electron density at the extraction region [3]. However, complex plasma transport and instabilities near the magnetic filter region generates nonuniformity in the extraction region.