MSAT: A Novel Multipactor Simulation and Analysis Tool

Abstract

Mulitipactor, caused by the interactions during electrons, electromagnetic fields and device materials in microwave components under vacuum, leads to the un-repairable damage to the on-orbit satellites and is still a bottle-neck problem for the high-reliability performance requirement. A novel multipactor simulation and analysis tool, which combines the full wave electromagnetic algorithm with the particle-in-cell method, is proposed for the visualization of the sophisticated physical evolution process and the prediction of the breakdown threshold of multipactor in practical EM systems. Based on the accurate description of Secondary Electron Emission(SEE) phenomenon through experimental measurements and numerical fitting, the electron multipaction principles and basic theories have been deeply studied. The numerical calculation and accurate threshold analysis of multipactor in practical components were realized. Experimental results match well with simulation results and the simulation error was less than 1.5dB, which lays the technology foundation for the study on the dielectric multipaction principle and numerical simulation.