Production of negative ions on graphite surface in H2/D2 plasmas: experiments and SRIM calculations

In previous works, surface-produced negative-ion distribution-functions have been measured in H2 and D2 plasmas using graphite surfaces (highly oriented pyrolitic graphite). In the present paper, we use the srim software to interpret the measured negative-ion distribution-functions. For this purpose, the distribution-functions of backscattered and sputtered atoms arising due to the impact of hydrogen ions on a-CH and a-CD surfaces are calculated. The srim calculations confirm the experimental deduction that backscattering and sputtering are the mechanisms of the origin of the creation of negative ions at the surface. It is shown that the srim calculations compare well with the experiments regarding the maximum energy of the negative ions and reproduce the experimentally observed isotopic effect. A discrepancy between calculations and measurements is found concerning the yields for backscattering and sputtering. An explanation is proposed based on a study of the emitted-particle angular-distributions as calculated by srim.