Hiden ESPion Langmuir Probe

The Hiden ESPion Langmuir-style electrostatic plasma probes, now for operation in both RF and DC plasma, automatically report the critical characteristics of electron density and energy distribution, electron temperature, ion density, plasma potential and floating potential, providing the rapid accurate feedback essential for plasma-based process analysis and control.

Systems are designed for monitoring of both continuous and pulsed plasma processes, the fast on-board software-controlled gating circuitry enabling ESPION to provide high-resolution segmented temporal analyses through pulse frequencies as high as 3MHz together with acquisition trigger resolution of just 62.5 nanoseconds.

Other features include forced-air cooling of the probe tip, a programmable self-cleaning cycle for automatic probe tip decontamination, a very high RF blocking impedance for optimum data integrity and an additional and integrated RF reference electrode to identify and to enable cancellation of fluctuations due to low frequency drifting of the plasma potential.

Probes may be operated in both static and dynamic modes, with fully programmable UHV compatible linear motion drives offering linear travel ranges to 900mm. Systems are backed by over 30 years continuous manufacturing experience in the field of plasma measurement together with a worldwide support network of engineers and scientists with expert knowledge of plasma diagnostics and processing. Our custom design team will be please to review any specialised insertion or mounting requirements.