Features of the Formation of Ultralow Energy High-Intensity Metal and Gaseous Ion Beams

Abstract

This article studies the features and patterns of the formation of high-intensity beams of metal and gaseous ions of low and ultralow energy from dc vacuum arc and gas-discharge plasma. It presents the results of repetitively pulsed plasma immersion extraction of aluminum, titanium, and nitrogen ions from the plasma followed by the formation and transport of ion beam under conditions of its ballistic focusing. This article presents the experimental data on the influence of the grid focusing electrode cell sizes of 150 and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$500~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> , the bias potential amplitude from 0.1 to 2 kV, the conditions for neutralizing the space charge of the beam during preliminary plasma injection into drift space and when using an additional thermoelectron source on the transport and focusing of ion beams. Here, it discusses the effect of the characteristic dimensions of the fine-structured grid and plasma parameters at ultralow bias potential amplitudes and the presence of significant initial energy in ions on the ion beam focusing. It was found that at bias potential amplitudes of 0.6 kV, it is possible to form repetitively pulsed ion beams with high current density reaching 170 mA/cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> . The obtaining of such beams opens up the possibility of implementing the method of high-intensity ion implantation under conditions of multiple decreases in the irradiated surface sputtering.