Comparing two techniques for measuring the electric field in a high-power pulsed magnetron.

A research area in the front line of new materials development is the production of nanoscale structured surfaces with very special properties. We are part of an international project for the development of magnetrons (a type of plasma device that is already playing a key role in the microelectronics industry) into a new parameter regime for this purpose. The project homepage is found at www.innovatial.com.

In the development of the new technique we are measuring the electric field in the device using cylindrical electric field probes. However, there is an uncertainty in these measurements that is due to (unknown) variations in the electron temperature.

The thesis work offered here is to compare measurements with the cylindrical probes to measurements with a probe construction, plugged probes that is much less sensitive to the electron temperature effects. This will tell us if electron temperature gradients are a ploblem.

The tests shall be made in a plasma device that is located at Linköping University. The work can either be made by a student based in Linköping who makes a few trips to KTH for instructions, or by a student based in Stockholm who then has to travel to Linköping for measurement campaigns in the testing process.