Experimental verification of a 3D Particle-in-Cell code applied to industrial ion sources

The sources of ions in a particle accelerator are called an ion source. These are composed of a chamber with a plasma (collection of ions and electrons) generated inside. The ions within this chamber are pulled out as a beam into particle accelerator, where they are eventually used for semiconductor manufacturing, production of radioisotopes for cancer research, and experimental verification of modern theories. D-Pace sells these ion sources, but the dynamics of the plasma is not well understood, which means improving their design is difficult. By modelling the plasma with modern, high-performance simulations, D-Pace can better understand how these ion sources work, and therefore better design improvements to output beam quantity and quality. The purpose of this project is to adapt these simulations for application to these ion sources.

Faculty Supervisor:

Lénaïc Couëdel

Student:

Partner:

D-Pace Inc

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of Saskatchewan

Program: