Optimization of Experimental Discharge Parameters to Increase the Arc Efficiency of the Bucket Ion Source

Arc efficiency is a critical criterion for assessing the performance of the ion source. High arc efficiency is necessary for a high power ion source, because it can decrease the load of the arc power supply. Thus the relationship between the discharge parameters (gas pressure, arc voltage, filament current, bias resistance connecting between the anode and plasma grid) and the arc efficiency is investigated in experiment especially. It is found that with increasing pressure, the arc efficiency increases fast if the pressure is below 0.4 Pa, but when it is above 0.4 Pa, the arc efficiency remains unchanged or increases slowly. If we increase the arc voltage or filament current, the arc efficiency decreases. The bias resistance also influences the arc efficiency, at the same pressure the arc efficiency increases with resistance.