title: Characteristics of low-energy ion beams extracted from a wire electrode geometry.
abstract: Beams of argon ions with energies less than 50 eV were extracted from an ion source through a wire electrode extractor geometry. A retarding potential energy analyzer (RPEA) was constructed in order to characterize the extracted ion beams. The single aperture RPEA was used to determine the ion energy distribution function, the mean ion energy and the ion beam energy spread. The multi-cusp hot cathode ion source was capable of producing a low electron temperature gas discharge to form quiescent plasmas from which ion beam energy as low as 5 eV was realized. At 50 V extraction potential and 0.1 A discharge current, the ion beam current density was around 0.37 mA/cm(2) with an energy spread of 3.6 V or 6.5% of the mean ion energy. The maximum ion beam current density extracted from the source was 0.57 mA/cm(2) for a 50 eV ion beam and 1.78 mA/cm(2) for a 100 eV ion beam.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Engineering, Doshisha University, Kyotanabe, Kyoto 610-0321, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vasquez
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tokumura
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kasuya
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maeno
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wada
mesh_terms: D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004566:Electrodes; D007477:Ions
chemical_list: D007477:Ions