Experimental Verification of BP-HiPIMS Thrusters

Sammanfattning: The ion acceleration process in Bipolar High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputteringis investigated for use in a novel space propulsion system - the BP-HiPIMS thruster.The interest for BP-HiPIMS has recently been growing within the area of thin filmdeposition due to the theorised acceleration of target ions caused by the reversedpulse following the regular HiPIMS pulse. This same acceleration could be usedto produce thrust in a space propulsion system, where the lack of physical gridsand temporal separation of ionisation and acceleration are attractive benefits of thesuggested system. In this paper the physical processes and parameters of importanceare experimentally investigated to gain understanding of the ion acceleration processwith the goal of verifying the theory of BP-HiPIMS thusters.Through plasma potential measurements a beneficial potential structure between themagnetic trap and bulk of the plasma which could potentially accelerate ions is foundat certain discharge conditions and some acceleration of ions is confirmed in massspectrometer measurements. The results are promising for a thruster application butfurther research is needed to evaluate the viability of the proposed system.