To provide an ion milling apparatus adapted to suppress the contamination of a beam forming electrode. The ion milling apparatus includes: an ion gun containing therein a beam forming electrode for forming an ion beam; a specimen holder for fixing a specimen to be processed by irradiation of an ion beam; a mask for shielding a part of the specimen from the ion beam; and an ion gun controller for controlling the ion gun.

A particle charger is provided with: a filter (28) partitioning the inside of a housing (20) into a first space (29) and second space (30); a particle introducer (22) for introducing a particle into the first space; a gas ion supplier (10) for supplying the first space with a gas ion; a potential gradient creator (26, 27, 31) for creating a potential difference within the housing so as to make the gas ion and a charged particle resulting from a contact of the aforementioned particle with the gas ion move toward the second space; an AC voltage supplier (32, 33) for applying AC voltages having a phase difference to the neighboring electrodes (28a, b) included in the filter; a controller (35) for performing a control for applying, to the plurality of electrodes, predetermined voltages so as to allow the charged particle to pass through a gap between the electrodes while trapping the gas ion by the electrodes; and a charged particle extractor (23, 25, 34) for extracting the charged particle admitted to the second space to the outside of the housing. By this configuration, the occurrence frequency of the multi-charging is suppressed.

The IHC ion source comprises an ion source chamber having a cathode and a repeller on opposite ends. The ion source chamber is constructed of a ceramic material having very low electrical conductivity. An electrically conductive liner may be inserted into the ion source chamber and may cover three sides of the ion source chamber. The liner may be electrically connected to the faceplate, which contains the extraction aperture. The electrical connections for the cathode and repeller pass through apertures in the ceramic material. In this way, the apertures may be made smaller than otherwise possible as there is no risk of arcing. In certain embodiments, the electrical connections are molded into the ion source chamber or are press fit in the apertures. Further, the ceramic material used for the ion source chamber is more durable and introduces less contaminants to the extracted ion beam.

Plasma processing systems and methods are provided. In one example, a system includes a processing chamber having a workpiece support. The workpiece is configured to support a workpiece. The system includes a plasma source configured to induce a plasma from a process gas in a plasma chamber to generate one or more species of negative ions. The system includes a grid structure configured to accelerate the one or more negative ions towards the workpiece. The grid structure can include a first grid plate, a second grid plate, and one or more magnetic elements positioned between the first grid plate and second grid plate to reduce electrons accelerated through the first grid plate. The system can include a neutralizer cell disposed downstream of the grid structure configured to detach extra electrons from ions of the one or more species of negative ions to generate energetic neutral species for processing the workpiece.

A technique for outputting heterologous ions having the same per-nucleon energy at different timings by using one ion source is provided.

An ion generation device includes: an ion generation energy setter that causes first ions and second ions generated by ionization in a vacuum chamber to be emitted in a mixed state from an opening; an electric-field voltage adjuster that imparts a same predetermined per-nucleon energy to each of the first and second ions by applying electric potential formed between the opening and extraction electrodes while switching the electric potential between first and second electric-field voltages; and an excitation current adjuster that causes the first and second ions to be outputted at different timings by supplying a coil of a separation electromagnet with an excitation current while switching the excitation current between first and second excitation currents.

An ion source including a chamber housing defining an ion source chamber and including an extraction plate on a front side thereof, the extraction plate having an extraction aperture formed therein, and a tubular cathode disposed within the ion source chamber and having an opening formed in a front half thereof nearest the extraction aperture, wherein a rear half of the tubular cathode furthest from the extraction aperture is closed.

Provided is an ion beam processing apparatus including an ion generation chamber, a processing chamber, and electrodes to form an ion beam by extracting ions generated in the ion generation chamber to the processing chamber. The electrodes includes a first electrode disposed close to the ion generation chamber and provided with an ion passage hole to allow passage of the ions, and a second electrode disposed adjacent to the first electrode and closer to the processing chamber than the first electrode is, and provided with an ion passage hole to allow passage of the ions. The apparatus also includes a power unit which applies different electric potentials to the first electrode and the second electrode, respectively, so as to accelerate the ions generated by an ion generator in the ion generation chamber. A material of the first electrode is different from a material of the second electrode.

Embodiments of systems, devices, and methods relate to an electrode standoff isolator. An example electrode standoff isolator includes a plurality of adjacent insulative segments positioned between a proximal end and a distal end of the electrode standoff isolator. A geometry of the adjacent insulative is configured to guard a surface area of the electrode standoff isolator against deposition of a conductive layer of gaseous phase materials from a filament of an ion source.

Plasma processing systems and methods are provided. In one example, a system includes a processing chamber having a workpiece support. The workpiece is configured to support a workpiece. The system includes a plasma source configured to induce a plasma from a process gas in a plasma chamber to generate one or more species of negative ions. The system includes a grid structure configured to accelerate the one or more negative ions towards the workpiece. The grid structure can include a first grid plate, a second grid plate, and one or more magnetic elements positioned between the first grid plate and second grid plate to reduce electrons accelerated through the first grid plate. The system can include a neutralizer cell disposed. downstream of the grid structure configured to detach extra electrons from ions of the one or more species of negative ions to generate energetic neutral species for processing the workpiece.

The present disclosure relates to a system and method for continuously supplying negative ions using multi-pulsed plasma sources. The system includes a plurality of plasma generators each to generate plasma by applying pulsed power to the electronegative gas from a gas source; a negative ion supply unit connected to the plasma generators to receive the plasmas transferred therefrom and to continuously supply ions; and a controller connected to the plurality of plasma generators and configured to control characteristics of the pulsed powers delivered to the respective plasma generators and to adjust phase shift associated with the pulsed power envelopes. By adjusting the phase shift, the controller enables a plasma in one of the plasma generators to be in an after-glow state when a plasma in another plasma generator is in an active-glow state.