Sputter Etching of Inner Magnetic Pole in Cylindrical Anode Layer Hall Thruster: A Simulation and Experimental Study

Herein, we addressed the problem of sputter-etching of inner magnetic pole in cylindrical anode layer Hall thruster. The ion sputter-etching was mathematically modeled, numerically simulated with PIC software and experimentally evaluated. The influence of the discharge voltage and magnetic field above the anode surface on the etching rate of inner magnetic pole was investigated by calculating the energy/angle distributions of the incident ions. The simulated results show that depending on the discharge voltage and magnetic field, the strongest etchingrate at the center is much higher than the almost un-changed etching-rate on the edge. For example, at 400 V, as the magnetic field increases from 175 to 205×10^-4 T, the fastest etching-rate at the center increase from 3×10^-9 to3. 9×10^-9 m/s; at 175×10^-4 T, as the voltage increases from 400 to 600 V, the highest etching-rate increases at the center from 3×10^-9 to 12. 1×10^-9 m/s. The simulated and measured results were in good agreement.