Broad beam gas ion source with hollow cathode discharge and four-grid accelerator system

A broad beam gas ion source based on low-pressure hollow cathode glow discharge is described. An axial magnetic filed produced by AlNiCo permanent magnets enhances the glow discharge in the ion source as a result of the magnetizing electrons between the hollow cathode and rod anode. The gas plasma is produced by magnetron hollow cathode glow discharge in the hollow cathode and a collimated broad ion beam is extracted by a four-grid accelerator system. A weak magnetic field of several millitesla is enough to ignite the magnetron glow discharge at pressure lower than 0.1 Pa, thereby enabling stable and continuous high-current discharge to form the homogeneous plasma. A four-grid accelerator, which separates the extraction and acceleration of the ion beam, is used in this design to generate the high-energy ion beam from 10 keV to 60 keV at a working pressure of 10^-4 Torr. Although a higher gas pressure is necessary to maintain the low-pressure glow discharge when compared to hot filament discharge, the hollow cathode ion source is operational with reactive gases such as oxygen in the high-voltage continuous mode. A laterally uniform ion beam can be achieved by using the four-grid accelerator system. The effects of the rod anode length on the characteristics of the plasma discharge as well as ion beam extraction from the ion source are discussed. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.