Integrated Engineering Software, a leading developer of hybrid simulation tools for electromagnetic, thermal and structural design analysis, has announced that its Lorentz simulation software now includes meniscus calculations for charged particle extraction from a plasma source.
Lorentz is an easy-to-use solver for analysing charged particle trajectories in the presence of electric and magnetic fields.
In Lorentz 2D version 7.0, Integrated Engineering Software has introduced a new meniscus calculation procedure for numerical modeling of extraction of high-current ion beams from a plasma source. Starting from an initial estimate, the surface shape is adjusted to achieve uniform flux over the emission surface. The technique can also be applied to determine cathode shapes for uniform flux electron guns.
Computer modeling of charged particle beams is an important part in the investigation of processes that take place in different electro-physical equipments. The aim of these simulations is to investigate the charge particle beam quality, which makes optimisation for a specific application possible.
The design of ion guns with plasma sources poses an extra challenge for simulation as the surface for ion extraction from plasma is not known in advance. The surface shape is determined by the balance between incoming ion flux and space-charge-limited current density. For a given extractor geometry, there is a unique surface shape that simultaneously satisfies Child’s Law and ensures that the space-charge-limited current density is uniform. This shape then determines both the total current and the focusing characteristics of the beam.
Bruce Klimpke, technical director of Integrated Engineering Software, explains: “Many devices are affected by the motion of charged particles in electric and/or magnetic fields. Applications utilising electron or ion beams are deliberately making use of this motion. Simulation can greatly diminish the scientific and engineering challenges posed in designing for optimal performance and lower production costs.”
Analysing device performance
Lorentz 2D can analyse the device performance, which may ultimately be limited by the ability to obtain the desired field strengths or special distributions. It may also be affected by practical problems such as producing the desired beam intensity or maintaining the beam intensity along the path, without excessive divergence due to its own space charge. Other applications may be adversely affected by unwanted charged particle motion effects, for example, multipaction in high-power high-frequency applications, where the desired electrical power of a device leads to problems like sparking.
Integrated Engineering Software is a leading developer of hybrid simulation tools for electromagnetic, thermal and structural design analysis. Founded in 1984, it provides a complete line of fully integrated two- and three-dimensional simulation software. Easy to use, its products allow engineers and scientists to design, simulate and optimise complex devices and systems via computer simulation thereby reducing costs and risks associated with physical prototyping and avoiding costly mistakes during manufacturing. It allows companies to reduce design time and costs, spend less money on expensive prototypes, improve product performance, decrease time to market and ultimately increase profitability. Integrated pioneered the creation of the BEM field solver 25 years ago, and today it is unique in offering a large variety of field solvers with the same software packages.
The company provides its expertise in the electromagnetic, electromechanical and electrothermal analysis software field to the industrial, automotive, medical, telecommunications, power and aerospace markets.
