?Titan,? a source of gas and metal ions based on a contracted discharge and vacuum arc

Abstract

“Titan” ion sources are capable of generating wide aperture beams of both gas and metal ions of different types: Mg, Al, Ti, Cu, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Sm, Zn, W, Pb, Ta, Re, Y, C, He, N, Ar, Xe. This is made possible by combining two types of cold cathode arc discharges in the discharge system. Metal ions are obtained using a vacuum arc ignited between a cathode made of the ion-forming material and a hollow anode. Gas ions are obtained using a low-pressure contracted arc discharge ignited on the same hollow anode. In pulsed operation the accelerating voltage of the source is regulated from 10 to 100 kV. The pulse current of both gas and metal ions is 0.3–0.5 A with a pulse duration of approximately 400 µs and a pulse repetition rate of up to 50 Hz. During continuous operation at an accelerating voltage as high as 10 kV, the ion current reaches tens of milliamperes. In this article the operating principle of the source is discussed, along with some physical peculiarities which arise during the formation and transport of high-current ions beams, and the design of the ion source is presented.