Process and apparatus for obtaining beams of particles with a spatially modulated density
AssigneeCommissariat a l'Energie Atomique
InventorMichel Bruel
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Abstract
Process and apparatus for obtaining beams of particles having a spatially modulated density, application to ion implantation and etching. For example, the invention consists of passing the particles of one beam into a long life excited state, selectively ionizing the excited particles with the aid of light having an adequate energy and spatially modulated intensity directed onto the excited particles, and separating the ionized particles from the particles which have remained excited, so as to obtain a beam of excited particles and a beam of ionized particles having a spatially modulated density.
Claims17
A process for obtaining beams of particles having a spatially modulated density, wherein it comprises passing the particles of a primary beam of particles in a first high-energy state E.sub.1, so as to form the beam of particles in said first high-energy state E.sub.1, selectively passing the particles in the first high-energy state E.sub.1 to a second high-energy state E.sub.2 with the aid of a light flux having a spatially modulated intensity, directed onto the beam of particles in said first high-energy state E.sub.1, and separating the particles in the second high-energy state E.sub.2 from particles in the first high-energy state E.sub.1, so as to obtain a beam formed by particles in the first high-energy state E.sub.1 and a beam formed from particles in the second high-energy state E.sub.2, said beams being separate and having a spatially modulated density, wherein one of the said first and second high-energy states E.sub.1 and E.sub.2 is a long life high-energy state and wherein the other high-energy state is an ionized state, whose ionization state differs from that of the long life high-energy state.
An apparatus for obtaining beams of particles having a spatially modulated density, wherein it comprises means for producing a primary particle beam, means for passing the particles of said primary beam to a first high-energy state E.sub.1, so as to form a particle beam in said first high-energy state E.sub.1, means of producing a light flux formed from photons able to pass the particles in the first high-energy state E.sub.1 to a second high-energy state E.sub.2, and for directing this light flux into the particle beam in the first high-energy state E.sub.1, means for spatially modulating the intensity of the light flux, interposed between the means for producing and directing said light flux and the particle beam in the first high-energy state E.sub.1, so as to selectively pass the particles in the first high-energy state E.sub.1 to the second high-energy state E.sub.2, and means for separating the particles in the second high-energy state E.sub.2 from the particles in the first high-energy state E.sub.1, so as to obtain a beam formed from particles in the first high-energy state E.sub.1 and a beam formed from particles in the second high-energy state E.sub.2, said beams being separate and having a spatially modulated density, one of the first and second high-energy states E.sub.1 and E.sub.2 being a long life high-energy state and the other high-energy state being an ionized state, whose ionization state differs from that of the long life high-energy state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.