Apparatus and methods for ion beam implantation using ribbon and spot beams

A method of decelerating an ion beam having an initial energy to a final higher energy and final direction while substantially eliminating contaminant ions and neutral atoms having energies other than the final energy, the method comprising:

• generating a beam of ions at an initial energy, guiding the ion beam along an ion beam path;
• controlling and adjusting the electrostatic potential and electric fields along the beam path so as to cause the ion beam to follow a generally s-shaped path while being decelerated, so that the ions in the ion beam are decelerated to the final energy and a centroid of the beam after acceleration travels generally in the final direction;
• and
• intercepting undeflected neutral atoms or molecules and/or charged fragmented molecular ions so as to remove them from the ion beam.

A system of accelerating an ion beam having an initial energy to a final higher energy and final direction while substantially eliminating contaminant ions and neutral atoms having energies other than the final energy, the system comprising:

• means for generating a beam of ions at an initial energy, guiding the ion beam along an ion beam path;
• means for controlling and adjusting the electrostatic potential and electric fields along the beam path so as to cause the ion beam to follow a generally s-shaped path while being accelerated, so that the ions in the ion beam are accelerated to the final energy and a centroid of the beam after acceleration travels generally in the final direction;
• and
• means for intercepting undeflected neutral atoms or molecules and/or charged fragmented molecular ions so as to remove them from the ion beam.

A system of decelerating an ion beam having an initial energy to a final higher energy and final direction while substantially eliminating contaminant ions and neutral atoms having energies other than the final energy, the system comprising:

• means for generating a beam of ions at an initial energy, guiding the ion beam along an ion beam path;
• means for controlling and adjusting the electrostatic potential and electric fields along the beam path so as to cause the ion beam to follow a generally s-shaped path while being decelerated, so that the ions in the ion beam are decelerated to the final energy and a centroid of the beam after acceleration travels generally in the final direction;
• and
• means for intercepting undeflected neutral atoms or molecules and/or charged fragmented molecular ions so as to remove them from the ion beam.

An ion implantation apparatus comprising:

• an ion source, an extraction assembly for extracting an ion beam;
• a magnetic analyzer for separating unwanted ion species from a traveling ribbon ion beam;
• and
• a target chamber in which is mounted a target for implantation, Illustratively, the target is a semiconductor wafer or flat panel display, which is moved through the beam (optionally back and forth) along a single path;
• wherein the beam is ribbon shaped, with one dimension many times greater than the other, and the longer dimension is aligned with the non-dispersive plane of the magnetic analyzer.