A source assembly for producing an ion beam and comprising a collision ionization ion source having: A pair of stacked plates, sandwiched about an intervening gap; An ionization space between said plates, connected to a gas supply duct; An input zone, provided in a first of said plates, to admit an input beam of charged particles to said ionization space; An output aperture, located opposite said input zone and provided in the second of said plates, to allow emission of a flux of ions produced in said ionization space by said input beam,
which source assembly comprises: A carrier provided with a plurality of different collision ionization ion sources that mutually differ in respect of a gap height d between said plates; A selecting device, which allows a given one of said ion sources to be individually selected for production of said ion beam. The various sources in said plurality preferably have a scattering quotient Q.sub.S=d/l.sub.i with a value in a range 1-500, preferably in a range 1-200, where l.sub.i is an ionic mean free path length in said ionization space.

An IHC ion source having increased plasma potential is disclosed. In certain embodiments, the extraction plate is biased at a higher voltage than the body of the arc chamber to achieve the higher plasma potential. Shielding electrodes may be utilized to remove the interaction between the biased extraction plate and the plasma. The cross-section of the arc chamber may be circular or nearly circular to facilitate the rotation of electrons in the chamber. In another embodiment, biased electrodes may be disposed in the chamber on opposite sides of the extraction aperture in the height direction. In some embodiments, only one of the electrodes is biased at a voltage greater than the body of the arc chamber.

An ion source is disclosed, in which the compression force applied to the faceplate on the two sides of the extraction aperture may be varied independently. Modifying the compression force between the faceplate and arc chamber can enable temperature control of the ion source by modifying the thermal contact resistance between the two components. This may allow more control of the temperature of the faceplate, and more specifically, the temperature profile across the entire faceplate due to precise control of the thermal contact gradient along the length of the faceplate. The ion implantation system includes two adjustable tension systems, each of which includes an actuator. A controller is used to provide a command signal to each adjustable tension system. In some embodiments, a feedback signal is generated by each adjustable tension system, which is representative of the torque or force experienced by the actuator.

A collision ionization ion source comprising: A pair of stacked plates, sandwiched about an intervening gap; An input zone (aperture), provided in a first of said plates, to admit an input beam of charged particles to said gap; An output zone (aperture), located opposite said input zone and provided in the second of said plates, to allow emission of a flux of ions from said gap; A gas space, between said input and output zones, in which gas can be ionized by said input beam so as to produce said ions; A supply duct in said gap, for supplying a flow of said gas to said gas space, and comprising: An emergence orifice, opening into said gas space; An entrance orifice, connectable to a gas supply,
wherein said duct comprises at least one transition region between said entrance orifice and said emergence orifice in which an inner height of said duct, measured normal to the plates, decreases from a first height value to a second height value.

The invention relates to a novel ion source, which uses method for the production of highly charged ions in the local ion traps created by an axially symmetric electron beam in the thick magnetic lens. The highly charged ions are produced in the separate local ion traps, which are created as a sequence of the focuses (F.sub.1, F.sub.2, and F.sub.3) of the electron beam (EB) rippled in the magnetic field (B(z)). Since the most acute focus is called the main one, the ion source is classified as main magnetic focus ion source (MaMFIS/T), which can also operate in the trapping regime. The electron current density in the local ion traps can be much greater than that in the case of Brillouin flow. For the ion trap with length of about 1 mm, the average electron current density of up to the order of 100 kA/cm.sup.2 can be achieved. Thus it allows one to produce ions in any charge state for all elements of the Periodic Table. In order to extract the ions, geometry of the electron beam is changed to a relatively smooth electron beam by setting the potential of the focusing electrode (W) of the electron gun negative with respect to the potential of the cathode (C).

A plasma generator for an ion implanter is provided. The plasma generator includes an ionization chamber for forming a plasma that is adapted to generate a plurality of ions and a plurality of electrons. An interior surface of the ionization chamber is exposed to the plasma and constructed from a first non-metallic material. The plasma generator also includes a thermionic emitter including at least one surface exposed to the plasma. The thermionic emitter is constructed from a second non-metallic material. The plasma generator further includes an exit aperture for extracting at least one of the plurality of ions or the plurality of electrons from the ionization chamber to form at least one of an ion beam or an electron flux. The ion beam or the electron flux comprises substantially no metal. The first and second non-metallic materials can be the same or different from each other.

An apparatus to generate negative hydrogen ions. The apparatus may include an ion source chamber having a gas inlet to receive H.sub.2 gas; a light source directing radiation into the ion source chamber to generate excited H.sub.2 molecules having an excited vibrational state from at least some of the H.sub.2 gas; a low energy electron source directing low energy electrons into the ion source chamber, wherein H.sup. ions are generated from at least some of the excited H.sub.2 molecules; and an extraction assembly arranged to extract the H.sup. ions from the ion source chamber.

The invention is a unique and substantive improvement in ion source assemblies which is able to produce a ribbon-shaped ion beam having an arbitrarily chosen breadth dimension which is at least ten times greater [and often more than thirty times greater] than its thickness dimension, the breadth and thickness dimensions of the beam being normal (i.e., perpendicular) to the Z-axis direction of travel for the ion beam. In all its embodiments, the improved ion source will comprise not less than two discrete component parts: (i) A closed, solid wall, prism-shaped arc discharge chamber having limited width and depth dimensions, and which concurrently has an arbitrarily chosen and predetermined length dimension which can be as small as 80 millimeters and alternatively exceed 3,000 millimeters in size; and (ii) A primary electron trap assembly which comprises at least an adjacently located magnetic field generating yoke subassembly able to provide a discernible quadrupole magnetic field internally within a confined cavity volume existing within the measurable dimensions of the arc discharge chamber walls.

An ion source having improved life is disclosed. In certain embodiments, the ion source is an IHC ion source comprising a chamber, having a plurality of electrically conductive walls, having a cathode which is electrically connected to the walls of the ion source. Electrodes are disposed on one or more walls of the ion source. A bias voltage is applied to at least one of the electrodes, relative to the walls of the chamber. In certain embodiments, fewer positive ions are attracted to the cathode, reducing the amount of sputtering experienced by the cathode. Advantageously, the life of the cathode is improved using this technique. In another embodiment, the ion source comprises a Bernas ion source comprising a chamber having a filament with one lead of the filament connected to the walls of the ion source.