RESUMEN
In an ion source based on a pulsed planar magnetron sputtering discharge with gas (argon) feed, the fraction of metal ions in the ion beam decreases with decreasing gas pressure, down to the minimum possible working pressure of the magnetron sputtering discharge. The use of a supplementary vacuum arc plasma injector provides stable operation of the pulsed magnetron sputtering discharge at extremely low pressure and without gas feed. Under these conditions, the pressure dependence of the gaseous ion fraction displays a maximum (is nonmonotonic).
RESUMEN
The results of an experimental study of low-energy (<200 eV) ion flux generation with space charge neutralization are presented. Argon was used as a working gas. The working gas pressure in the vacuum chamber was 2-4 x 10(-2) Pa. Ion beam was extracted from the hollow cathode of main discharge plasma by a single mesh extractor with subsequent deceleration of ions to a required energy in a layer between the mesh and the beam plasma. The ion beam current was measured on the collector located on the distance of 30-60 cm from the discharge system. The penetration of electron component from the main discharge plasma through the mesh into the region of the ion beam drift space was realized by potential barrier reduction, in conditions of the optimal extractor potential with respect to the hollow cathode. The space charge neutralization of low-energy ion beam resulted in drift space plasma potential reduction and ion beam current growth. At the main discharge current of 1 A and main discharge voltage of 300 V, the ion beam current of up to 100 mA with the ion energy of 50-150 eV was obtained.
RESUMEN
A novel approach to low-energy, high-current, gaseous ion beam generation was explored and an ion source based on this technique has been developed. The source utilizes a dc high-current (up to 20 A) gaseous discharge with electron injection into the region of ion generation. Compared to the conventional end-Hall ion source, the locations of the discharge anode and cathode are inverted: the cathode is placed inside the source and the anode outside, and correspondingly, the discharge current is in the opposite direction. The discharge operates in a diverging axial magnetic field, similar to the end-Hall source. Electron generation and injection is accomplished by using an additional arc discharge with a "cold" (filamentless) hollow cathode. Low plasma contamination is achieved by using a low discharge voltage (avoidance of sputtering), as well as by a special geometric configuration of the emitter discharge electrodes, thereby filtering (removing) the erosion products stemming from the emitter cathode. The device produces a dc ion flow with energy below 20 eV and current up to 2.5 A onto a collector of 500 cm(2) at 25 cm from the source edge, at a pressure > or =0.02 Pa and gas flow rate > or =14 SCCM. The ion energy spread is 2 to 3 eV (rms). The source is characterized by high reliability, low maintenance, and long lifetime. The beam contains less than 0.1% of metallic ions. The specific electric energy consumption is 400 eV per ion registered at the collector. The source operates with noble gases, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrocarbons. Utilizing biasing, it can be used for plasma sputtering, etching, and other ion technologies.
RESUMEN
A high current, multi charged, metal ion source using electron heating of vacuum arc plasma by high power gyrotron radiation has been developed. The plasma is confined in a simple mirror trap with peak magnetic field in the plug up to 2.5 T, mirror ratio of 3-5, and length variable from 15 to 20 cm. Plasma formed by a cathodic vacuum arc is injected into the trap either (i) axially using a compact vacuum arc plasma gun located on axis outside the mirror trap region or (ii) radially using four plasma guns surrounding the trap at midplane. Microwave heating of the mirror-confined, vacuum arc plasma is accomplished by gyrotron microwave radiation of frequency 75 GHz, power up to 200 kW, and pulse duration up to 150 micros, leading to additional stripping of metal ions by electron impact. Pulsed beams of platinum ions with charge state up to 10+, a mean charge state over 6+, and total (all charge states) beam current of a few hundred milliamperes have been formed.
RESUMEN
An ion source based on a hollow-cathode Penning discharge was switched to a high-current pulsed mode (tens of amperes and tens of microseconds) to produce an intense hydrogen ion beam. With molecular hydrogen (H2), the ion beam contained three species: H(+), H2(+), and H3(+). For all experimental conditions, the fraction of H2 (+) ions in the beam was about 10 ÷ 15% of the total ion beam current and varied little with ion source parameters. At the same time, the ratio of H(+) and H3(+) depended strongly on the discharge current, particularly on its distribution in the gap between the hollow and planar cathodes. Increasing the discharge current increased the H(+) fraction in ion beam. The maximum fraction of H(+) reached 80% of the total ion beam current. Forced redistribution of the discharge current in the cathode gap for increasing the hollow cathode current could greatly increase the H3(+) fraction in the beam. At optimum parameters, the fraction of H3(+) ions reached 60% of the total ion beam current.
RESUMEN
Boron ion beams are widely used for semiconductor ion implantation and for surface modification for improving the operating parameters and increasing the lifetime of machine parts and tools. For the latter application, the purity requirements of boron ion beams are not as stringent as for semiconductor technology, and a composite cathode of lanthanum hexaboride may be suitable for the production of boron ions. We have explored the use of two different approaches to boron plasma production: vacuum arc and planar high power impulse magnetron in self-sputtering mode. For the arc discharge, the boron plasma is generated at cathode spots, whereas for the magnetron discharge, the main process is sputtering of cathode material. We present here the results of comparative test experiments for both kinds of discharge, aimed at determining the optimal discharge parameters for maximum yield of boron ions. For both discharges, the extracted ion beam current reaches hundreds of milliamps and the fraction of boron ions in the total extracted ion beam is as high as 80%.
RESUMEN
The paper describes the principle of operation, design special features, and parameters of an inverted time-of-flight spectrometer. The spectrometer is designed in such way that its deflecting plates, drift tube, and primary measuring system are at high potential with respect to the ground potential, whereas plasma is formed near grounded electrodes. This type of configuration greatly extends the application range of the device, making it possible to measure the mass-to-charge composition of plasma with wide range of parameters.
RESUMEN
A bulk plasma source, based on a high-current dc glow discharge with electron injection, is described. Electron injection and some special design features of the plasma arc emitter provide a plasma source with very long periods between maintenance down-times and a long overall lifetime. The source uses a sectioned sputter-electrode array with six individual sputter targets, each of which can be independently biased. This discharge assembly configuration provides multifunctional operation, including plasma generation from different gases (argon, nitrogen, oxygen, acetylene) and deposition of composite metal nitride and oxide coatings.
RESUMEN
An ion source based on a two-stage discharge with electron injection from a cold emitter is presented. The first stage is the emitter itself, and the second stage provides acceleration of injected electrons for gas ionization and formation of ion flow (<20 eV, 5 A dc). The ion accelerating system is gridless; acceleration is accomplished by an electric field in the discharge plasma within an axially symmetric, diverging, magnetic field. The hollow cathode electron emitter utilizes an arc discharge with cathode spots hidden inside the cathode cavity. Selection of the appropriate emitter material provides a very low erosion rate and long lifetime.
RESUMEN
A method for generating high charge state heavy metal ion beams based on high power microwave heating of vacuum arc plasma confined in a magnetic trap under electron cyclotron resonance conditions has been developed. A feature of the work described here is the use of a cusp magnetic field with inherent "minimum-B" structure as the confinement geometry, as opposed to a simple mirror device as we have reported on previously. The cusp configuration has been successfully used for microwave heating of gas discharge plasma and extraction from the plasma of highly charged, high current, gaseous ion beams. Now we use the trap for heavy metal ion beam generation. Two different approaches were used for injecting the vacuum arc metal plasma into the trap--axial injection from a miniature arc source located on-axis near the microwave window, and radial injection from sources mounted radially at the midplane of the trap. Here, we describe preliminary results of heating vacuum arc plasma in a cusp magnetic trap by pulsed (400 µs) high power (up to 100 kW) microwave radiation at 37.5 GHz for the generation of highly charged heavy metal ion beams.
RESUMEN
We have designed, made, and demonstrated a broad-beam, dc, ion source based on a two-stage, hollow-cathode, and glow discharges plasma. The first-stage discharge (auxiliary discharge) produces electrons that are injected into the cathode cavity of a second-stage discharge (main discharge). The electron injection causes a decrease in the required operating pressure of the main discharge down to 0.05 mTorr and a decrease in required operating voltage down to about 50 V. The decrease in operating voltage of the main discharge leads to a decrease in the fraction of impurity ions in the ion beam extracted from the main gas discharge plasma to less than 0.2%. Another feature of the source is a single-grid accelerating system in which the ion accelerating voltage is applied between the plasma itself and the grid electrode. The source has produced steady-state Ar, O, and N ion beams of about 14 cm diameter and current of more than 2 A at an accelerating voltage of up to 2 kV.
RESUMEN
We have made and tested a very low energy gaseous ion source in which the plasma is established by a gaseous discharge with electron injection in an axially diverging magnetic field. A constricted arc with hidden cathode spot is used as the electron emitter (first stage of the discharge). The electron flux so formed is filtered by a judiciously shaped electrode to remove macroparticles (cathode debris from the cathode spot) from the cathode material as well as atoms and ions. The anode of the emitter discharge is a mesh, which also serves as cathode of the second stage of the discharge, providing a high electron current that is injected into the magnetic field region where the operating gas is efficiently ionized. In this discharge configuration, an electric field is formed in the ion generation region, accelerating gas ions to energy of several eV in a direction away from the source, without the use of a gridded acceleration system. Our measurements indicate that an argon ion beam is formed with an energy of several eV and current up to 2.5 A. The discharge voltage is kept at less than 20 V, to keep below ion sputtering threshold for cathode material, a feature which along with filtering of the injected electron flow, results in extremely low contamination of the generated ion flow.
RESUMEN
The paper presents the results of tests of a new compact two-stage bulk gas plasma gun. The plasma gun is based on a nonself-sustained gas discharge with an electron emitter based on a discharge with a self-heating hollow cathode. The operating characteristics of the plasma gun are investigated. The discharge system makes it possible to produce uniform and stable gas plasma in the dc mode with a plasma density up to 3x10(9) cm(-3) at an operating gas pressure in the vacuum chamber of less than 2x10(-2) Pa. The device features high power efficiency, design simplicity, and compactness.
RESUMEN
An ion source based on a planar magnetron sputtering device with thermally isolated target has been designed and demonstrated. For a boron sputtering target, high target temperature is required because boron has low electrical conductivity at room temperature, increasing with temperature. The target is well-insulated thermally and can be heated by an initial low-current, high-voltage discharge mode. A discharge power of 16 W was adequate to attain the required surface temperature (400 degrees C), followed by transition of the discharge to a high-current, low-voltage mode for which the magnetron enters a self-sputtering operational mode. Beam analysis was performed with a time-of-flight system; the maximum boron ion fraction in the beam is greater than 99%, and the mean boron ion fraction, time-integrated over the whole pulse length, is about 95%. We have plans to make the ion source steady state and test with a bending magnet. This kind of boron ion source could be competitive to conventional boron ion sources that utilize compounds such as BF(3), and could be useful for semiconductor industry application.
RESUMEN
We present the results of experiments leading to improvement in bulk plasma uniformity of a constricted-arc discharge system with electron injection. The steady-state discharge was in argon, at a gas pressure of 0.5 mTorr, and operated with a main discharge voltage between 20 and 100 V and current between 3 and 15 A. The radial plasma distribution was measured with a movable Langmuir probe. We find that geometric modification of the intermediate electrode exit aperture and the main discharge cathode add little to the plasma uniformity. Improved bulk plasma uniformity is observed when a special distributing grid electrode is used and the main discharge voltage is less than 20-30 V. The application of a weakly divergent magnetic field in the region of the intermediate electrode exit aperture decreases the plasma nonuniformity from 20% to 14% over a radial distance of 30 cm. The plasma uniformity was further improved by compensating the magnetic self-field of the injected electron beam by a reverse magnetic field produced with a special electrode compensator. It is shown that an increase in discharge current causes a proportional increase in back current in the distributing electrode. The approach allows a decrease in plasma nonuniformity from 20% to 13% over a radial distance of 30 cm.