Abstract
Boron liquid metal ion sources (LMIS) for the recently acquired VG focused ion beam system have been developed, and Pd73B27 binary eutectic alloy was selected as the p-type dopant source. A lifetime of more than 120 h has been recorded and three different emitter tip radii were used to test boron ion beam stability. Microstructure examination of the Pd73B27 binary alloy proved that boron LMIS instability was caused primarily by the formation of solid precipitates due to a change in alloy stoichiometry. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) analysis of boron beam deposited on a flat silicon substrate shows rhenium emitter erosion as well as other elements (Fe, Ni, and Cr) resulting from extractor sputtering. In this paper, greater attention is placed on the metallurgical aspects of LMIS in order to develop more reliable boron LMIS.
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