Abstract
We have designed, fabricated and characterized an ion source based on a vacuum magnetron discharge. The magnetron discharge is initiated by a vacuum arc discharge, the plasma of which flows onto the magnetron sputtering target working surface. The vacuum arc material is usually the same as that of the magnetron target. The discharges operate at a residual pressure of 3 × 10−6 Torr without working gas feed. Pulses of vacuum arc (30 μs) and magnetron discharge (up to 300 μs) are applied simultaneously. After ignition by the vacuum arc, the magnetron discharge runs in a self-sustained mode. Cu–Cu, Ag–Ag, Zn–Zn, and Pb–Pb pairs of magnetron target material and vacuum arc cathode material were tested, as well as mixed pairs; for example, Cu vacuum arc cathode and Pb magnetron target. An ion beam was extracted from the discharge plasma by applying an accelerating voltage of up to 20 kV between the plasma expander and grounded electrodes. The ion beam collector current reached 80 mA. The ion beam composition, analyzed by a time-of-flight spectrometer, shows that the beam consists mainly of singly-charged (about 90%) and doubly-charged (about 10% current fraction) magnetron target material ions. The ion beam radial current density non-uniformity was as low as ±5% over a diameter of 6.6 cm, which is the diameter of the source output aperture.
Highlights
IntroductionThe use of a magnetron discharge plasma for ion beam production is limited by the significantly high operating pressure required for the discharge operation, usually 10−3 Torr and greater
In prior work [7] we have developed and explored a planar gasless magnetron discharge initiated by a vacuum arc plasma gun located on the axis of a planar magnetron
We have developed and characterized a metal ion source based on a pulsed vacuum planar magnetron discharge operating without gas feed at a residual pressure of 3 × 10−6
Summary
The use of a magnetron discharge plasma for ion beam production is limited by the significantly high operating pressure required for the discharge operation, usually 10−3 Torr and greater. Gasless sputtering has been proposed and studied [5,6], using a planar magnetron discharge initiated and supported by a supplementary vacuum arc discharge unit which is positioned off the magnetron axis. Disadvantages of this approach are that the vacuum arc plasma impacts the magnetron target surface asymmetrically, and the vacuum arc cathode is located relatively far from the magnetron target.
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