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Modeling And Measuring The Characteristics Of An Inductively Coupled Plasma Antenna For A Micro-Propulsion System, Sonya Mary Christensen
Modeling And Measuring The Characteristics Of An Inductively Coupled Plasma Antenna For A Micro-Propulsion System, Sonya Mary Christensen
Boise State University Theses and Dissertations
An ion thruster for satellites on the order of 10-50 kg in mass is currently under development. The thruster uses an Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) generated by a flat spiral antenna fabricated using the Low Temperature Co-Fired Ceramic (LTCC) materials system. The antenna operating frequency range (600 MHz to 1 GHz) in LTCC (εr=7.8) results in a wavelength on the same order of magnitude as the total length of conductor in the antenna. This condition provides some interesting antenna electric and magnetic field characteristics. The antenna has been modeled using COMSOL Multiphysics® Simulation Software. By changing the geometry …