Separation of rare or expensive isotopes, whether radioactive or stable, requires a high efficiency of the separation process. Electromagnetic isotope separation is the most widely-used of all separation processes. Its separation efficiency depends mainly upon the ionization efficiency of its ion source. An Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) ion source has been developed for the separation of both stable and radioactive isotopes on account of its high ionization efficiencies. The maximum ionization efficiencies achieved with the ECR ion source for singly charged ions for a range of materials were: radioiodine (8%), carbon (10%), nitrogen (26%), oxygen (53%), neon (31%) and xenon (83%). A computer code ECREFF, based on the atomic processes which occur in the plasma, is described for the calculation of the ionization efficiency of an ECR ion source. The experimental and calculated data are compared.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliography.

Durant cette thèse nous avons caractérisé et amélioré une nouvelle source de rayons X avec unplasma ECR (résonance cyclotronique électronique) permettant de générer des électronsénergétiques de 10 à 120 keV, qui vont ensuite produire le rayonnement X par freinage(bremsstrahlung). Les améliorations de l’installation ont permis d’obtenir une source stable, pouvantfonctionner une journée entière de travail (huit heures) sans arrêt. Dans la première partie de l’étudeexpérimentale on a étudié et déterminé les paramètres optimaux de la source : la pression, lapuissance micro-onde et la configuration magnétique sur le rayonnement X du plasma. Nous avonségalement confirmé la localisation des électrons énergétiques sur un anneau due à la configurationmagnétique. L’intensité trop faible et la zone d’émission non ponctuelle du rayonnement plasma, nepermettant pas l’utilisation de la source à plasma, une cible a été insérée sur la trajectoire desélectrons énergétique pour résoudre ces deux problèmes.Le principal avantage de notre source par rapport aux tubes X, est l’absence de haute tension (20 à400 kV). Pour chauffer les électrons, nous utilisons une onde de 2,45 GHz, qui est la fréquenceindustrielle autorisée dans les fours à micro-ondes, délivrée par un magnétron. Les éléments simplesqui composent notre source donne un coût plus faible qu’un système classique de tubes X, dûprincipalement au prix élevé du générateur HT pour les tubes X. De plus, nous n’avons pas besoind’un vide très poussé car, à la différence des tubes X, la source ECRX fonctionne avec une pressionrésiduelle de 0,1mPa. Et enfin notre source est compacte ce qui la rend facilement transportable. Lesapplications de cette source sont nombreuses comme la radiologie, la stérilisation et le contrôle nondestructif industriel. / During this thesis we have characterised and developed a new X-ray source with an ECR plasma(electron cyclotron resonance) generating energetic electrons from 10 to 120 keV, which will emit adeceleration radiation (the Bremsstrahlung). The improvements of the installation permit to obtain astable source, which can work during one day (eight hours) without stop. In first part of theexperimental study we have studied and determined the optimal parameters of the source: pressure,micro-wave power and the magnetic configuration on the X radiation of the plasma. We also confirmedthe localisation of the energetic electron on a ring due to the magnetic configuration. The low intensityand the non punctual emission size of the X radiation, don’t allow the use of the source, so a target isinserted in the trajectory of the energetic electron to solve these two weaknesses.The main advantage of our source compared with X-ray tubes, is the absence of high voltage (20 to400 kV). For heating the electron, we use a 2,45 GHz wave, that is the industrial frequency authorizedfor the micro-wave oven, delivered by the magnetron. The simple elements that compose our sourceare less expensive than the classical X-ray tubes, due to mainly the high cost of the X-ray generator.Moreover, we don’t need a high vacuum, mandatory for the X-ray tubes; an ECRX operates at aresidual pressure of 0,1 mPa. And finally, we have a compact source. Applications will be various frommedical, like radiological, sterilization, to non-destructive industrial control.

A dynamical technique for the study of tokamak energy and particle transport has been developed. The plasma in the medium-sized DITE tokamak was perturbed by the application of modulated electron cyclotron resonance heating, with wave-launching from the high-field side. These experiments were carried out with absorption at various distances from the plasma centre, over a range of densities. Energy transport through the electron channel was dominant, and the variations in electron temperature and density were measured using the soft X-ray, electron cyclotron emission and microwave interferometer diagnostics. Analysis in the frequency domain enabled the propagation of the thermal wave to be followed. The observed behaviour was generally indicative of diffusive propagation of the thermal perturbation. Further observations indicated a modulation of the horizontal plasma shifts, diffusive propagation to the edge and a low modulation level of line-averaged density. In some atypical cases, the observed behaviour was qualitatively different; this type of behaviour was accompanied by a pronounced sawtooth oscillation locked with the modulation. Two models have been employed for the interpretation of these results. The first model, based on the diffusive thermal transport of the perturbation, has led to results in good agreement with the experimental data. Values of the electron thermal diffusivity were deduced, in good agreement with those obtained from the alternative techniques of power balance analysis and sawtooth heat pulse propagation analysis; such agreement has not been universally obtained in similar experiments. The width of the absorption region has emerged as an important consideration in this analysis. A more complex model, including non-linear, coupled equations of particle and energy balance, has produced results in partial agreement with the experimental data, supporting, to some extent, the presence of coupled transport. It has been demonstrated how perturbation techniques can afford a useful means of testing transport models.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-139). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-139). Also available on the Internet.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / The ultimate aim of any multiply-charged ion source, like the Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source, ECRIS, is the production of multiply-charged ions, in sufficiently large quantities. These multiplycharged ions, in the case of the ECRIS, are created by a step-by-step ionisation process, whereby neutral atoms are ionised by energetic electrons. The goal of this thesis was to gain an understanding of the relative importance of various ECRIS parameters on the production of these energetic electrons. This was done by measuring the bremsstrahlung continuum emitted by the mirror confined plasma of an ECR ion source. The focus of our study was to investigate the influence of neutral pressure, incident microwave power and magnetic field configuration on spectral temperature and electron density of the warm electron population of the ECRIS plasma. The thesis begins by familiarising the reader with various aspects of plasma physics as it relates to the measurements. The measurements were done with a high-purity germanium detector and processed with the DGF Pixie-4 module. Analyses of the measured spectra were done with subroutines written in Root. From the measured result, it was concluded that by increasing the incident microwave power from 50 W to 300 W, the spectral temperature increases by 14.01% for helium plasma and 7.88% for argon plasma. Evidence of saturation of spectral temperature and electron density with increasing microwave power was also noticed, as reported by other groups investigating plasma bremsstrahlung. The increase of spectral temperature with neutral pressure was found to be considerable, increasing by 20.23% as the neutral pressure in the plasma chamber of the ECRIS was decreased. This increase in spectral temperature was accompanied by a 40.33% decrease in electron density, which led us to conclude that the increase in spectral temperature was most likely due to an increase in the mean free path of the electrons. The influence of the magnetic field configuration on both spectral temperature and electron density was also investigated. During this investigation, one of the solenoid coil currents was increased, whilst keeping the other constant. This amounts to moving the plasma volume around axially in the plasma chamber of the ECRIS. This was found to significantly enhance the spectral temperature and this effect was attributed to more efficient heating of the electrons near the resonance zone. The electron density on the other hand was found to remain relatively constant, if one excludes the electron density as a result of one particularly setting of the solenoid coils. The decrease of electron density as a result of this particular setting of the solenoid coils enhanced the electron losses through the magnetic bottle. This is evidenced by the increase in photon counts as measured by our detector. The influence of neutral pressure, incident microwave power and magnetic field configuration on the extracted ion beam intensities was also investigated. This investigation led us to conclude that the mean charge state extracted increases with spectral temperature. This result was in agreement with those measured by other groups.

<p> Thin silicon based films were produced using low temperature (less than 60° C) electron cyclotron resonance plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (ECR PECVD). These films were examined for suitability in flat panel display applications. SiOxNy films were tested for use as insulating films in thin film electroluminescent (TFEL) devices. The ECR PECVD method was found to be suitable when the plasma was created using pure nitrogen (as opposed to argon) in high ratios to the silane precursor.</p> <p> Hydrogenated silicon films were also produced and evaluated for their suitability as semiconductor layers in thin film transistors (TFTs). The silicon films were subject to nickel induced crystallization. The silicon films were found to crystallize at low temperatures, (<950° C) in the presence of nickel. These films were used to produce prototype metal insulator semiconductor (MIS) capacitors and TFTs.</p> / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

The broad theme of the present research investigation is Ion Assisted Deposition of thin films and its effect on the properties of thin films. Though this activity has been of interest to researchers for more than a decade, the development of different types of ion sources with control over the ion flux and energy, makes it a current topic of interest. Ion assisted deposition was successful in depositing thin films of many material with desired qualities, however, there are certain class of materials whose deposition has been rather difficult. This has mainly been attributed to higher energies and low ion flux of conventional ion sources. The advent of ECR ion sources for thin film deposition has given impetus to the deposition of such materials. This is due to the low energy high-density plasma generated in this type of sources. Hitherto, these sources were widely used in PECVD techniques and only recently the importance of ECR sources in PVD techniques has been realized. This thesis is on the development of ECR plasma source for ion assisted deposition of thin films using PVD techniques. This thesis is organized into six chapters. The first chapter gives an introduction on the ion assisted growth of thin films and the importance of ECR plasma. A detailed discussion on various aspects of ECR sources has been included. The design details on the development of ECR source have been discussed in the second chapter. The performance of ECR source as analyzed by the Langmuir probe are also discussed. Variation of plasma parameters like ion density, electron temperature, plasma potential and floating potential as a function of pressure and microwave power have been studied using Langmuir probe analysis. An ion density of the order of 1011/cm3 was measured at a distance of 8 cm from the plasma source with a microwave power of 400 watts. This was comparable to the ion density reported in downstream plasma of ECR sources. The behavior of plasma parameters with variation in microwave power and pressure was explained on the basis of microwave transmission above critical ion density and the microwave power absorption. The uniformity of the plasma parameters at the substrate position (29 cm from the ECR source) was found to be ± 2% over a diameter of 12 cm, which makes the ion source suitable for ion assisted deposition. The third chapter deals with the simulation and experimental study of the ECR sputtering process. ECR sputter type sources are equipped with cylindrical targets. The sputtered flux distribution on the substrate depends on target geometry, sputtering pressure and target-substrate distance. The effect of cylindrical geometry on the distribution of sputtered flux has been simulated by Monte Carlo methods. It is found that the sputtered flux distribution at different pressures and target-substrate distances in ECR sputter type source differs from the conventional glow discharge sputtering system equipped with planar targets. The simulated results are compared with the experimental results. The simulated data agree very well with the experimental data. The deposition and characterization of the TiN thin films for diffusion barrier applications in copper metallization have been discussed in the fourth chapter. Titanium nitride films are prepared by ECR sputtering. The effect of high density ion bombardment on the morphology, orientation and resistivity of the films was studied. It was observed that films with atomic smoothness could be prepared by ECR sputtering. Also the high density ion bombardment has been found to be effective for the film growth in (100) orientation. The behavior of TiN films deposited by this method as a diffusion barrier in copper metallization has been investigated. The resistivity measurements and RBS depth profile studies showed that up to 700°C there is no diffusion of copper into silicon. This shows that ECR sputtered TiN can be used as an effective diffusion barrier in copper metallization. The fifth chapter contains investigations on the ECR assisted growth of silicon nitride films. The films are characterized for composition, morphology and chemical bonding using AES, RBS, AFM, XPS and FTIR. AFM studies revealed that ion bombardment results in the reduction of surface roughness, which indicates dense film growth. The effect of ion assistance on the optical and electrical properties is studied in detail. Films prepared with microwave power ranging from 100 to 200 watts are having bandgap and refractive index of 4.9 eV and 1.92 respectively. Interface state density of silicon nitride films prepared in the above mentioned range was found to be 5x10 10 eVcm2. These films exhibited a resistivity of 10 13 Ω, cm and critical field of 4 MV/cm. The electrical conductivity in these films has been explained on the basis of Poole and Frenkel conduction. The low value of interface state density, higher resistivity, and critical field show that good quality SiN4 films can be deposited with low energy high density ECR plasma. A detailed summary of this research investigation has been discussed in the last chapter. The thesis is concluded with a discussion on the need of focused ECR source to establish ECR assisted deposition as a versatile technique for the growth of thin films.

Heutzutage ist die Entwicklung neuer Technologien stark auf die Miniaturisierung und die Herstellung von Materialien im Nanometer-Bereich und deren Charakterisierung ausgerichtet. Besonders interessant sind Informationen über hergestellte &amp;quot;sandwich&amp;quot; Strukturen betreffs Art und Anzahl der Schichten, Dicke der Schichten und deren chemische Zusammensetzung. Die chemischen Informationen von den Proben sind sowohl nahe der Oberfläche als auch in tiefer liegenden Schichten (vergrabene Schichten) von Interesse. Da die üblichen Tiefenprofilverfahren durch das Auftreten von ionenstrahlinduzierten Probenschädigungen hier versagen, sind zerstörungsfreie Untersuchungen der Probenstruktur von Bedeutung. Winkelaufgelöste Röntgenphotoemissionsspektroskopie (ARXPS) ist eines der Verfahren, die ohne Beschädigung der Schichtstruktur der untersuchten Materialen Informationen über dünne Gebiete der Probe liefert. Die Charakterisierung der Probe basiert auf der Analyse der austretenden Photoelektronen unter verschiedenen Austrittswinkeln, weil damit die effektive Informationstiefe durch Analyse von Photoelektronenstrom aus verschiedenen Tiefen verändert wird. Die Untersuchungstiefe bei diesem Verfahren ist maximal ~10 nm. Aus dem ARXPS-Verfahren ist nur eine indirekte Information zu erhalten. Deshalb braucht man ein Werkzeug, mit dem die untersuchten Proben mit Hilfe von mathematischen Modellen quantitativ beschrieben werden können. In der vorliegenden Doktorarbeit wird gezeigt, dass die ARXPS-Modellrechnung unter bestimmten Voraussetzungen eine sinnvolle Methode zur Analyse von dünnen Barriere-, Oxid- und Segregationsschichtsystemen ist. Die Quantifizierung der ARXPS-Daten ist nur dann erfolgreich, wenn nicht nur der Einfluss der Abklinglänge der Photoelektronen berücksichtigt wird, sondern auch der Einfluss der mittleren Atomvolumina der Matrix in geeigneter Schichten und der korrigierten Empfindlichkeitsfaktoren berücksichtigt wird. Die Anpassung zwischen experimentellen und berechneten Daten verläuft unter Verwendung bestimmter Rand- und Grenzbedingungen durch Anwendung mathematischer Methoden gleichzeitig für alle betrachtete Winkel. Das Verhalten der ARXPS-Modellrechnung wurde unter verschiedenen Bedingungen überprüft. Zu diesem Zweck wurde eine theoretische Struktur simuliert, deren Verhalten (berechnete Schichtdicken, Bedeckungsgrad der Oberfläche mit der Kontamination, chemische Zusammensetzung der Schichten) untersucht wurde hinsichtlich der Einflüsse von verschiedener Dicken, von Rauhigkeiten an der Probeoberfläche, der Art der Kontamination an der Oberfläche die aus der ex situ Präparation resultiert, und der &amp;quot;Qualität&amp;quot; der betrachteten Information während der Quantifizierung (Peak-Fit Prozeduren). Zur Demonstration der Möglichkeiten der Modellrechnung wurden zwei Systeme untersucht. Das erste Schichtsystem Co/Al2O3/Al enthält eine dünne vergrabene Aluminiumoxid-Barriere, die durch Plasma-Oxidation mit Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) bei unterschiedlichen Oxidationszeiten hergestellt wurde. Die Modellierung der Proben mit der ARXPS-Modellrechnung ergibt unterschiedliche Dicken von Al2O3, die mit der Zeit der Oxidation korrelieren. Je größer die Oxidationszeit ist, desto dickere Aluminiumoxidschichten bilden sich. Die Untersuchung der Alterungsprozesse an den ECR-Proben ergibt, dass die Dicke der Aluminiumoxide nicht beeinflusst wurde. Das bestätigt, dass die Co-Schicht erfolgreich Al2O3 vor weiterer Oxidation schützt. Das zweite Beispiel betrifft eine S/Fe Struktur, die während der Wärmebehandlung durch Schwefel-Segregation auf einer Fe(100)-Oberfläche entstanden ist. Mit Hilfe der ARXPS-Modellrechnung kann der Bedeckungsgrad mit dem Schwefel der Fe- Oberfläche berechnet werden. Um die Ergebnisse der Modellierung zu verifizieren, wurden die ausgewählten Strukturen mit anderen Methoden (z.B.: TEM, EELS, XRR) untersucht.