RECEIVED R. B. Spielman, W. A Stygar, M. A Sweeney, and R. A. Vesey Sandia National Laboratories JUW 0 8 1998 Albuquerque, AM87185-1191 Q S T I The U. S . Department of Energy has supported a substantial research program in Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) since the early 1970's. Over the course of the ensuing 25 years, pulsed power approaches to inertial fbsion have remained of interest prima...

A novel power supply system that directly couples pulsed high voltage (HV) pulses and pulsed 13.56 MHz radio frequency (rf) has been developed for plasma processes. In this system, the sample holder is connected to both the rf generator and HV modulator. The coupling circuit in the hybrid system is composed of individual matching units, low pass filters, and voltage clamping units. This ensures...

Clustered voltage scaling scheme is an effective method of power consumption reduction without performance degradation. One of the main issues in this scheme is performance and power penalties due to insertion of level converting flip-flops at the interface from low-supply to high supply clusters to simultaneously perform latching and level converting functions. A new level converting flip-flop...

In order to simulate the rarefied plasma flow within pulsed plasma thrusters (PPTs), a fully kinetic approach for the Boltzmann-Maxwell equations is under development by IAG (Institute of Aerodynamics and Gas Dynamics, Universität Stuttgart), IRS (Institute of Space Systems, Universität Stuttgart), ASE (Applied Supercomputing in Engineering, German Research School for Simulation Sciences) and I...

Power-modulated (pulsed) plasmas have demonstrated several advantages compared to continuous wave (CW) plasmas. Specifically, pulsed plasmas can result in a higher etching rate, better uniformity, and less structural, electrical or radiation (e.g. vacuum ultraviolet) damage. Pulsed plasmas can also ameliorate unwanted artefacts in etched micro-features such as notching, bowing, micro-trenching ...