The Frankfurt RF-driven ion source

An RF-driven volume ion source based on the high efficiency ion source (HIEFS) has been developed at the Institut für Angewandte Physik in Frankfurt. The RF-driven ion source operates at a frequency of 3.5 MHz with a maximum duty factor of 10%. Using an 11 kW RF-amplifier a He+-beam with a current of 82 mA as well as an oxygen beam with a current of 39 mA and an O+-fraction of 90% could be extracted. Experiments were done to study the operating conditions of the ion source. For the working gases helium and oxygen the emission current density in dependence on several ion source parameters was investigated. Furthermore, the energy distribution of the electrons and ions in the plasma as well as the beam composition for several working gases were studied. This article will give a detailed description of the ion source and the experimental setup. In addition, various dependencies between the plasma parameters and the emission current density, the energy distribution of electrons and ions and the beam composition are presented.