Engineering topics

Chung, Chin-Wook

Publications and source records attributed to Chung, Chin-Wook.

10 records

DOE OSTI2016

The radio-frequency fluctuation effect on the floating harmonic method

The radio-frequency (RF) plasma diagnostics with an electrical probe facing a challenge, because the RF fluctuation oscillates the plasma potential and distorts the current-voltage (I-V) curve. As Langmuir probe is widely used in plasma diagnostics, many researchers have been studying the effect of RF fluctuation on probe and compensation methods. On the other hand, there have not been enough studies on the fluctuation effect on the floating harmonic method. Therefore, we investigated the impact of RF fluctuation on the floating harmonic method theoretically and experimentally. When the electrons are in ideal Maxwellian distribution, the floating potential is negatively shifted by the RF fluctuation, but the fluctuation does not distort I-V curve around the floating potential. However, in practical plasmas, the I-V curve and their harmonic components are distorted. This RF fluctuation effect becomes more significant in a low density plasma with a high impedance sheath. The second harmonic current decreases with the RF fluctuation while the first harmonic current is merely affected. Therefore, the electron temperatures measured with the floating harmonic method under low density plasma with uncompensated probe are overestimated than the results obtained with the compensated probe.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2016

On modified finite difference method to obtain the electron energy distribution functions in Langmuir probes

A modified central difference method (MCDM) is proposed to obtain the electron energy distribution functions (EEDFs) in single Langmuir probes. Numerical calculation of the EEDF with MCDM is simple and has less noise. This method provides the second derivatives at a given point as the weighted average of second order central difference derivatives calculated at different voltage intervals, weighting each by the square of the interval. In this paper, the EEDFs obtained from MCDM are compared to those calculated via the averaged central difference method. It is found that MCDM effectively suppresses the noises in the EEDF, while the same number of points are used to calculate of the second derivative.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2016

Experimental observation of electron bounce resonance through electron energy distribution measurement in a finite size inductively coupled plasma

The electron bounce resonance was experimentally investigated in a low pressure planar inductively coupled plasma. The electron energy probability functions (EEPFs) were measured at different chamber heights and the energy diffusion coefficients were calculated by the kinetic model. It is found that the EEPFs begin to flatten at the first electron bounce resonance condition, and the plateau shifts to a higher electron energy as the chamber height increases. The plateau which indicates strong electron heating corresponds not only to the electron bounce resonance condition but also to the peaks of the first component of the energy diffusion coefficients. As a result, the plateau formation in the EEPFs is mainly due to the electron bounce resonance in a finite inductive discharge.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2016

Discharge dynamics and plasma density recovery by on/off switches of additional gas

Measurement of the plasma density is investigated to study plasma dynamics by adding reactive gas (O{sub 2}) or rare gas (He) in Ar plasmas. When the O{sub 2} or He gas is added, plasma density is suddenly decreased, while the plasma density recovers slowly with gas off. It is found that the recovery time is strongly dependent on the gas flow rate, and it can be explained by effect of gas residence time. When the He gas is off in the Ar plasma, the plasma density is overshot compared to the case of the O{sub 2} gas pulsing due to enhanced ionizations by metastable atoms. Analysis and calculation for correlation between the plasma density dynamics and the gas pulsing are also presented in detail.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2015

The sheath effect on the floating harmonic method

The floating harmonic method biases sinusoidal voltage to a probe sheath, and as its response, harmonic currents can be obtained. These currents can be used to determine the plasma parameters. However, different shapes of probes have different shapes of sheaths that can affect the diagnostic results. However, no research has been done on the sheath effect on the floating harmonic method. Therefore, we investigate the effect of the sheath during floating harmonic diagnostics by comparing cylindrical and planar probes. While the sinusoidal voltages were applied to a probe, because the sheath oscillated, the time variant ion current and their harmonic currents were added to the electron harmonic currents. In the floating harmonic method, the harmonic currents are composed of only the electron harmonic currents. Therefore, the ion harmonic currents affect the diagnostic results. In particular, the electron temperature obtained by the small probe tip was higher than that of the large probe tip. This effect was exacerbated when the ratio of the probe tip radius to the sheath length was smaller.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2015

A study on improvement of discharge characteristic by using a transformer in a capacitively coupled plasma

In a plasma discharge system, the power loss at powered line, matching network, and other transmission line can affect the discharge characteristics such as the power transfer efficiency, voltage and current at powered electrode, and plasma density. In this paper, we propose a method to reduce power loss by using a step down transformer mounted between the matching network and the powered electrode in a capacitively coupled argon plasma. This step down transformer decreases the power loss by reducing the current flowing through the matching network and transmission line. As a result, the power transfer efficiency was increased about 5%–10% by using a step down transformer. However, the plasma density was dramatically increased compared to no transformer. This can be understood by the increase in ohmic heating and the decrease in dc-self bias. By simply mounting a transformer, improvement of discharge efficiency can be achieved in capacitively coupled plasmas.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2015

Probe diagnostics in the far scrape-off layer plasma of Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research tokamak using a sideband harmonic method

Plasma characteristics in the far scrape-off layer region of tokamak play a crucial role in the stable plasma operation and its sustainability. Due to the huge facility, electrical diagnostic systems to measure plasma properties have extremely long cable length resulting in large stray current. To overcome this problem, a sideband harmonic method was applied to the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research tokamak plasma. The sideband method allows the measurement of the electron temperature and the plasma density without the effect of the stray current. The measured plasma densities are compared with those from the interferometer, and the results show reliability of the method.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2015

Relatively high plasma density in low pressure inductive discharges

Electron energy probability functions (EEPFs) were measured in a low pressure argon inductive discharge. As radio frequency (RF) power increases, discharge mode is changed from E-mode (capacitively coupled) to H-mode (inductively coupled) and the EEPFs evolve from a bi-Maxwellian distribution to a Maxwellian distribution. It is found that the plasma densities at low RF powers (<30 W) are much higher than the density predicted from the slope of the densities at high powers. Because high portion of high energy electrons of the bi-Maxwellian distribution lowers the collisional energy loss and low electron temperature of low energy electrons reduces particle loss rate at low powers. Therefore, the energy loss of plasma decreases and electron densities become higher at low powers.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2015

Non-invasive probe diagnostic method for electron temperature and ion current density in atmospheric pressure plasma jet source

The electrical probe diagnostics are very hard to be applied to atmospheric plasmas due to severe perturbation by the electrical probes. To overcome this, the probe for measuring electron temperature and ion current density is indirectly contacted with an atmospheric jet source. The plasma parameters are obtained by using floating harmonic analysis. The probe is mounted on the quartz tube that surrounds plasma. When a sinusoidal voltage is applied to a probe contacting on a quartz tube, the electrons near the sheath at dielectric tube are collected and the probe current has harmonic components due to probe sheath nonlinearity. From the relation of the harmonic currents and amplitude of the sheath voltage, the electron temperature near the wall can be obtained with collisional sheath model. The electron temperatures and ion current densities measured at the discharge region are in the ranges of 2.7–3.4 eV and 1.7–5.2 mA/cm{sup 2} at various flow rates and input powers.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2015

Correlation between vibrational temperature of N{sub 2} and plasma parameters in inductively coupled Ar/N{sub 2} plasmas

Vibrational temperature (T{sub vib}) of N{sub 2} gas and electron energy distribution function (EEDF) were measured in Ar/N{sub 2} mixture inductively coupled plasma (ICP). At a low gas pressure of 5 mTorr where the EEDF is bi-Maxwellian distribution, plasma density n{sub p} and T{sub vib} (from 7000 K to 5600 K) slightly decrease. However, remarkable decrease in n{sub p} and T{sub vib} is found with the dilution of N{sub 2} gas at a high gas pressure of 50 mTorr, where the EEDF is depleted Maxwellian distribution at a fixed ICP power of 150 W. When the ICP power increases from 150 W to 300 W at the gas pressure of 50 mTorr, the depleted tail on the EEDF is replenished, while n{sub p} is little changed with the dilution of N{sub 2} gas. In this case, T{sub vib} slightly decreases from 9500 K to 7600 K. These results indicate that the variation of T{sub vib} is strongly correlated to the plasma parameters, such as the plasma density and EEDF.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗