A 2 Hz, laboratory scale plasma focus device using a multichannel pseudospark switch

A small, repetitive plasma focus device using a low erosion multichannel pseudospark switch is presented. This device showed negligible wear after more than 200,000 pulses with peak currents exceeding 200 kA and repetition rates up to 2 Hz. The plasma focus discharge can be driven using different gases leading to different characteristics in the X-ray emission. This allows the matching of the source to special demands of the application with respect to, e.g., the bandwidth or the required wavelength interval. First experiments concerning the soft X-ray emission of neon and argon are discussed. Examples for different applications (proximity lithography, fluorescence analysis) using pinch plasmas presented.