Nonintrusive position measurement of magnetically scanned ion beams

Abstract

In ion implantation systems using a hybrid magnetic-mechanical scanning, the scan along the implant disc radius is realized by magnetic scanning of an ion beam at an average frequency of 0.1 Hz. To achieve a uniform implant, a relationship has to be known between the scanning magnetic field and the resulting ion beam position. A measuring system has been developed to estimate the lateral position of an ion beam without interfering physically with the beam. The beam position is inferred from two random signals induced by the beam on two sensing electrodes, obtained by splitting a bias ring of the implanter's Faraday system. The beam-induced signals are processed digitally and the position estimate, represented by a 9-bit number, is updated at 1.5 ms (or 12 ms) intervals. Preliminary tests have demonstrated that the technique presented can be exploited for adaptive shaping of a current waveform driving the scan magnet.