Gridless ion source for the vacuum processing of materials

A gridless ion source for the vacuum processing of materials comprising:

• (a) a housing;
• (b) at least one anode discharge region within said housing for the formation and acceleration of a plasma beam, said anode discharge region having an opening at a first end adjacent the exterior of said housing and at least one anode at a second end at least one gap therein, said anode being electrically insulated from said housing in such a manner to prohibit the formation of plasma migrating into the interior of said housing behind said anode;
• (c) cooling means for thermally cooling said anode other than by radiative thermal emission;
• (d) at least one self-sustaining cathode;
• (e) power supply means connected to said anode for supplying a voltage between said anode and said cathode for the breakdown of working gases to form a gaseous discharge and to drive an anode discharge current from said anode through said anode discharge region to said cathode;
• (f) injection means for introducing the working gases through the gap in said anode and into said anode discharge region;
• and
• (g) electromagnetic means mounted in said housing for establishing and for at least partially driving a magnetic field within said anode discharge region, wherein the direction of flux of said magnetic field is periodically reversed and wherein said anode discharge region and the magnetic field are so disposed to allow the formation of a non-closed Hall-effect electron drift current path driven by means of a Hall-effect force within said anode discharge region.

A gridless ion source for the deposition of materials onto substrates comprising:

• (a) a housing;
• (b) at least one anode discharge region within said housing for the formation and acceleration of a plasma beam, said anode discharge region having an opening at a first end adjacent the exterior of said housing and at least one anode at a second end, said anode being electrically insulated from said housing in such a manner to prohibit the formation of plasma migrating into the interior of said housing behind said anode;
• (c) cooling means for thermally cooling said anode other than by radiative thermal emission;
• (d) at least one self-sustaining cathode disposed outside anode discharge region and substantially outside the plasma beam;
• (e) power supply means connected to said anode for supplying a voltage between said anode and said cathode for the breakdown of working gases to form a gaseous discharge and to drive a anode discharge current from said anode through said anode discharge region to said cathode;
• (f) injection means for introducing the working gases through at least one gap within said anode and into said anode discharge region, the dimensions of the gap within said anode being at least greater than the characteristic Debye length of the local plasma formed near the gap in said anode and the shape of the gap being configured so as to substantially restrict line-of-sight deposition of coating onto said anode within said gap such that said anode discharge current is substantially maintained at said anode within the gap near a localized region of the working gases passing into said anode discharge region;
• and
• (g) electromagnetic means mounted in said housing for establishing and for at least partially driving a magnetic field within said anode discharge region, wherein the direction of flux of said magnetic field is periodically reversed and wherein said anode discharge region and the magnetic field are so disposed to allow the formation of a non-closed Hall-effect electron drift current path driven by means of a Hall-effect force within said anode discharge region.

A gridless ion source for the vacuum processing of materials comprising:

• (a) a housing;
• (b) at least one anode discharge region within said housing for the formation and acceleration of a plasma beam, said anode discharge region having an opening at a first end adjacent the exterior of said housing and at least one anode at a second end having at least one gap therein, said anode being electrically insulated from said housing in such a manner to prohibit the formation of plasma migrating into the interior of said housing behind said anode;
• (c) cooling means for thermally cooling said anode other than by radiative thermal emission;
• (d) at least one self-sustaining cathode;
• (e) power supply means connected to said anode for supplying a voltage between said anode and said cathode for the breakdown of working gases to form a gaseous discharge and to drive an anode discharge current from said anode through said anode discharge region to said cathode;
• (f) injection means for introducing the working gases through at least one gap within said anode and into said anode discharge region;
• the dimensions of the gap within said anode being at least greater than the characteristic Debye length of the local plasma formed near the gap in said anode and the shape of the gap being configured so as to substantially restrict line-of-sight deposition of coating onto said anode within said gap such that said anode discharge current is substantially maintained at said anode within the gap near a localized region of the working gases passing into said anode discharge region;
• (g) electromagnetic means mounted in said housing for establishing and for at least partially driving a magnetic field within said anode discharge region.
• (h) at least one electrically isolating gap between said anode and an adjacent portion of said housing bounding said anode discharge region disposed in such a manner to prohibit formation of conductive paths within said electrically isolating gap and between said anode and said adjacent portion of said housing.