Ion beam extraction by discrete ion focusing
AssigneeDanmarks Tekniske Universitet
InventorEugen Stamate
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and methods are disclosed for ion beam extraction. In an implementation, the apparatus includes a plasma source (or plasma) and an ion extractor. The plasma source is adapted to generate ions and the ion extractor is immersed in the plasma source to extract a fraction of the generated ions. The ion extractor is surrounded by a space charge formed at least in part by the extracted ions. The ion extractor includes a biased electrode forming an interface with an insulator. The interface is customized to form a strongly curved potential distribution in the space-charge surrounding the ion extractor. The strongly curved potential distribution focuses the extracted ions towards an opening on a surface of the biased electrode thereby resulting in anion beam.
Claims23
An apparatus for ion beam extraction, said apparatus comprising:
- a plasma source to generate a plasma containing ions;
- and
- an ion extractor to extract a fraction of said ions from said plasma;
- wherein that said ion extractor includes:
- a biased electrode, an insulator, and a biased electrode-insulator interface formed there between, a first surface of said biased electrode and a first of said biased electrode-insulator interface being covered by said plasma, a design of said biased electrode and of said biased electrode-insulator interface and a bias applied to the biased electrode controlling a shape of a potential distribution between said plasma and said biased electrode-insulator interface to generate a curved potential distribution in said plasma, said curved potential distribution focusing ions passing through the curved potential distribution towards an extraction gap on the first surface of said biased electrode, the curved potential distribution surrounding the biased electrode and the insulator affecting the ion trajectories resulting in a no ion impact surface on the biased electrode adjacent to the biased electrode-insulator interface.
A method for ion beam extraction, said method comprising:
- generating a plasma containing ions, the plasma covering a first surface of a biased electrode and first surface of a biased electrode-insulator interface;
- creating a curved potential distribution between said plasma and the biased electrode-insulator interface;
- and
- controlling said curved potential distribution in accordance with a design of said biased electrode-insulator interface and said biased electrode, by adjusting at least one of plasma parameters and applied bias on said biased electrode to focus ions passing through the curved potential distribution towards an extraction gap on a surface of said biased electrode and to curved potential distribution surrounding the electrode and an insulator of the biased electrode-insulator interface affecting the ion trajectories resulting in a no ion impact surface on the biased electrode adjacent to the biased electrode-insulator interface.
An apparatus for ion beam extraction, comprising:
- a plasma source to generate a plasma;
- and
- an ion extractor including an electrode having a first surface covered by the plasma;
- wherein the ion extractor includes a pair of insulators defining a gap there between,
- wherein the ion extractor and the plasma source control a plasma sheath shape around an extraction region of the electrode in accordance with a design of the electrode and the gap and control at least one of plasma parameters and a bias applied to the electrode, to control a plasma sheath shape around an extraction region of the electrode, and
- wherein the shape of the sheath about the gap is a concave shape.
An apparatus for ion beam extraction, the apparatus comprising:
- a plasma source;
- and
- an ion extractor including an electrode having a first surface covered by the plasma and an insulator,
- wherein the ion extractor and the plasma source control a plasma sheath shape around an extraction region of the electrode in accordance with a design of the electrode and the insulator and control at least one of plasma parameters and a bias applied to the electrode, to control a plasma sheath shape around an extraction region of the electrode;
- wherein the electrode includes a semiconducting material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.