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Updated: May 24, 2026

Non-equilibrium Microwave Plasma for Efficient High Temperature Chemistry
Published on: August 1, 2017
High frequency operation of a hot filament cathode for a magnetized plasma ion source
Y Takahashi1, N Miyamoto, T Kasuya
1Graduate School of Engineering, Doshisha University, Kyoto 610-0321, Japan.
Abstract:
A tungsten filament cathode has been operated with an ac heating current to excite a plasma in a linear magnetic field. Both the discharge current and the ion saturation current in plasma near the extraction hole of the ion source exhibited fluctuations. The discharge current fluctuated with the amplitude less than 2% of the average, and the frequency two times the frequency of the heating current. Fluctuation amplitude of the ion saturation current was about 10% of the average, while the frequency was the same as that of the heating current. The ac operation has prolonged the lifetime of a hot filament cathode by about 50%.
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