Actively heated target to generate an ion beam

Abstract

An arc chamber for an ion source defines a chamber volume, and a target material is disposed within the chamber volume. The target material comprises a dopant species and can be contained in a target member. An indirectly heated cathode is positioned within the chamber volume and ionizes a source gas within the chamber volume, defining a plasma having a plasma thermal emission. A target heater selectively heats the target material independently from the plasma thermal emission associated with the plasma. The target heater can be a resistive heating element, inductive heating element, halogen heating element, or a laser configured to selectively heat at least a portion of the target member. The target member can consist of a solid dopant material or can contain a liquid dopant material.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.