An MeV facility for materials research

Abstract

A facility consisting of two Van de Graaff-type MV accelerators for materials processing and characterization has been developed in collaboration with High Voltage Engineering Europa B.V. A newly developed heavy-ion implanter is used for generation of several-hundred-μA mass-analysed ion beams in the energy range from 10 keV up to 2. MeV. Beams of a wide range of elements can be extracted from three different types of ion sources, which can be exchanged in minutes using a high-pressure load-lock system. Other important new features include: integrated gas system, specially developed ion optics and injection system, mass analysis at high voltage level and an X-ray intensity level < 0.1 mrem/h. This accelerator is connected to two beam lines for (1) ion mixing, including in situ sample analysis using RHEED, RBS, channeling and NRA, and (2) ion implantation of up to 10 × 10 cm 2 samples in a class 100 clean room environment. In addition, the facility comprises a 2 MV system dedicated to sample analysis using RBS, channeling, NRA and PIXE. By the use of a magnet configuration in the acceleration tube also for this 2 MV accelerator an X-ray intensity level < 0.1 mrem/h is obtained. The complete facility enables one to perform a wide variety of experiments concerning materials modification and analysis with ion beams in the first μm of semiconductors, metals and other materials.