Acceleration of high current heavy ions using a variable energy radio-frequency quadrupole linac and measurement of the input beam emittance

Abstract

A high current ion beam injection system and a variable energy radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator with an external LC resonance circuit are tested. A four-rod RFQ electrode of 2.3 m length is newly designed to obtain a milliampere class MeV ion beam. To increase accelerated beam current, injected beam emittance into the RFQ is measured and compared with the designed RFQ acceptance. Injected beam emittance tends to increase with the beam current increase. The beam acceleration tests are carried out with a cw rf power supply of 100 kW (10–30 MHz, continuously variable). Results show that the time-averaged beam currents of N+ and Ar2+ are 1.1 mA (0.4 MeV) and 1.03 mA (1.0 MeV), respectively, and that the peak current of these beams is about 5 mA. As representative ion species for fabricating semiconductor devices, P+ and P2+ are accelerated, and the time-averaged beam current of 0.48 mA (0.56 MeV) and 0.28 mA (0.81 MeV) are obtained, respectively. This high current MeV ion implanter has great potential for application to high-dose implantation and high throughput production of semiconductor devices and material surface modifications.