Charge stripping for ion implantation systems

A method for operating a high energy ion implanter, the method comprising:

• generating ions of a beam species from an ion source, thereby defining a ion beam;
• mass analyzing the ion beam;
• selecting ions of a first charge state into an accelerator;
• accelerating the ions of the first charge state through at least one of a first plurality of accelerator stages located within the accelerator, thereby defining accelerated ions at a first kinetic energy level;
• stripping the accelerated ions with a charge stripper comprising sulfur hexafluoride gas located within the accelerator, thereby converting the ions of the first charge state to positive ions of a second charge state, wherein the first charge state is different from the second charge state;
• and
• accelerating the ions of the second charge state through at least one of a second plurality of accelerator stages located within the accelerator.

A method of increasing beam current of a high energy ion implanter to above a first maximum kinetic energy level of a first charge state without using a second different charge state at an ion source, the method comprising:

• generating an ion beam comprising ions of the first charge state and a beam species from the ion source;
• mass analyzing the ion beam;
• accelerating the ions of the first charge state to a first kinetic energy through at least one of a plurality of accelerator stages;
• stripping the ions of the first charge state with a charge stripper utilizing a high molecular weight gas, thereby converting the ions of the first charge state to ions of a second charge state, wherein the stripping is performed with a stripping efficiency that is based on the first kinetic energy and provides more positive ions of the second charge state than at the ion source and increases a beam current at a second kinetic energy that is higher than the first kinetic energy associated with the ions of the first charge state.