Studies of xenon ECR plasma: search for a better understanding of the gas-mixing and anomalous effects

Pure and oxygen-mixed xenon plasmas were produced using 10 GHz all-permanent-magnet electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source. The charge state distributions (CSDs) of highly abundant isotopes (¹²⁹Xe, ¹³¹ Xe and ¹³² Xe) were studied by extracting the ions from the plasma and analyzed them in mass and energy using a large acceptance analyzer-switching dipole magnet. In earlier studies (Drentje 1992 Rev. Sci. Instrum. 63 2875, Kawai et al 2001 Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 10 451), the CSD of oxygen and nitrogen ECR plasmas showed that isotopic intensity ratio of ions varies with the charge state (anomalous effect). The anomalous effect in the pure and oxygen-mixed xenon ECR plasma was absent up to +13 charge state. With oxygen, a very small positive gas-mixing effect on the charge state beyond +8 was observed. In this paper, we present CSDs of xenon isotopes with and without oxygen mixing (at optimized ion source parameters) and compare the intensity of isotopes for various charge states to shed light on the previously noticed anomalous effect in the ECR plasma. (paper)