An ion source includes an external housing, an electrically conductive tip, a gas supply system, configured to supply an operating gas into the neighborhood of the tip, and a cooling system configured to cool the tip. The gas supply system includes a first tube with a hollow interior, and a chemical getter material is provided in the hollow interior of the tube.

A gas field ionization source in which an ion beam current is stable for a long time is achieved in an ion beam apparatus equipped with a field ionization source that supplies gas to a chamber, ionizes the gas, and applies the ion beam to a sample. The ion beam apparatus includes an emitter electrode having a needle-like extremity; a chamber inside which the emitter electrode is installed; a gas supply unit that supplies the gas to the chamber; a cooling unit that is connected to the chamber and cools the emitter electrode; a discharge type exhaust unit that exhausts gas inside the chamber; and a trap type exhaust unit that exhausts gas inside the chamber. The exhaust conductance of the discharge type exhaust unit is larger than the total exhaust conductance of the trap type exhaust unit.

In this invention, vibrations generated by a freezer from a cooling mechanism for cooling an ion source emitter tip are prevented from being transmitted to the emitter tip as much as possible, while the cooling capability of the cooling mechanism is improved widely. The ion beam device (10) is equipped with: an ion source housing (22) provided with an emitter tip (45) and defining an ion source chamber (27) supplied with an ionization gas or gas molecules; a gas pot (51) provided in the ion source chamber (27) so as to be thermally connected to the emitter tip (45) and accommodated so as to have no direct physical contact with a cooling stage (57) of a freezer (52); and a spacer (59) provided on the peripheral surface of the cooling stage (57) housed by the gas pot (51) and maintaining a given interval or greater between the peripheral surface of the cooling stage (57) and the internal peripheral surface of the gas pot (52).

In this invention, vibrations generated by a freezer from a cooling mechanism for cooling an ion source emitter tip are prevented from being transmitted to the emitter tip as much as possible, while the cooling capability of the cooling mechanism is improved widely. The ion beam device (10) is equipped with: an ion source housing (22) provided with an emitter tip (45) and defining an ion source chamber (27) supplied with an ionization gas or gas molecules; a gas pot (51) provided in the ion source chamber (27) so as to be thermally connected to the emitter tip (45) and accommodated so as to have no direct physical contact with a cooling stage (57) of a freezer (52); and a spacer (59) provided on the peripheral surface of the cooling stage (57) housed by the gas pot (51) and maintaining a given interval or greater between the peripheral surface of the cooling stage (57) and the internal peripheral surface of the gas pot (52).

The objective of the present invention is to provide an ion beam device capable of forming a nanopyramid stably having one atom at the front end of an emitter tip even when the cooling temperature is lowered in order to observe a sample with a high signal-to-noise ratio. In the present invention, the ion beam device, wherein an ion beam generated from an electric field-ionized gas ion source is irradiated onto the sample to observe or process the sample, holds the temperature of the emitter tip at a second temperature higher than a first temperature for generating the ion beam and lower than room temperature, sets the extraction voltage to a second voltage higher than the first voltage used when generating the ion beam, and causes field evaporation of atoms at the front end of the emitter tip, when forming the nanopyramid having one atom at the front end of the emitter tip.

The objective of the present invention is to provide an ion beam device capable of forming a nanopyramid stably having one atom at the front end of an emitter tip even when the cooling temperature is lowered in order to observe a sample with a high signal-to-noise ratio. In the present invention, the ion beam device, wherein an ion beam generated from an electric field-ionized gas ion source is irradiated onto the sample to observe or process the sample, holds the temperature of the emitter tip at a second temperature higher than a first temperature for generating the ion beam and lower than room temperature, sets the extraction voltage to a second voltage higher than the first voltage used when generating the ion beam, and causes field evaporation of atoms at the front end of the emitter tip, when forming the nanopyramid having one atom at the front end of the emitter tip.

The invention relates to a liquid metal-ion beam system (1) or liquid metal electron beam system, comprising: a conductive emitter electrode (2), a conductive extractor electrode (3) opposite to the emitter electrode (2), a liquid metal reservoir (4) which is fluidically connected to the emitter electrode (2) for transporting liquid metal to the emitter electrode (2), a control unit (5) which is configured to apply a periodically varying operating voltage between emitter electrode (2) and extractor electrode (3).

The present invention is directed to a method and device to desorb an analyte using heat to allow desorption of the analyte molecules, where the desorbed analyte molecules are ionized with ambient temperature ionizing species. In various embodiments of the invention a current is passed through a mesh upon which the analyte molecules are present. The current heats the mesh and results in desorption of the analyte molecules which then interact with gas phase metastable neutral molecules or atoms to form analyte ions characteristic of the analyte molecules.

The present invention is directed to a method and device to desorb an analyte using heat to allow desorption of the analyte molecules, where the desorbed analyte molecules are ionized with ambient temperature ionizing species. In various embodiments of the invention a current is passed through a mesh upon which the analyte molecules are present. The current heats the mesh and results in desorption of the analyte molecules which then interact with gas phase metastable neutral molecules or atoms to form analyte ions characteristic of the analyte molecules.

In some embodiments, a self-aligned electrospray device can include a silicon wafer, a fluid reservoir, and a circuit. The silicon wafer can have a layer of electrically insulating material deposited on a top surface and a deposited layer of electrically conducting material. The silicon wafer and the deposited layers can have through holes. The electrically insulating layer may be undercut. The fluid reservoir can be mounted to a bottom surface of the silicon wafer for containing fluid. The circuit can provide an electric potential difference and be coupled between the layer of electrically conducting material and the fluid reservoir.