Simple, high current, antimony ion source

Abstract

A simple metal ion source capable of producing a continuous, uncontaminated, high current beam of Sb ions is presented. It produced a total ion current of 200 μA at 1 kV extraction voltage. A discharge occurred in the source at a pressure of 6×10⁻⁴ Torr. The ion current extracted from the source increased with the 3/2 power of the extraction voltage. The perveance of the source and ion density in the plasma were 8×10⁻⁹ and 1.8×10¹¹ cm⁻³, respectively.