Ion gun

Abstract: The charge separation effects in the collisionless plasma expansion into a vacuum are studied in great detail. Accurate results are obtained concerning the structure of the ion front, the resultant ion energy spectrum, and more specifically the maximum ion energy. These are of crucial importance for the interpretation of recent experiments, where high-energy ion jets were produced from short pulse interaction with solid targets.

Abstract: The use of radio-frequency (RF)-only ion guides for efficient transport of ions through regions of a mass spectrometer where the background gas pressure is relatively high is widespread in present instrumentation. Whilst multiple collisions between ions and the background gas can be beneficial, for example in inducing fragmentation and/or decreasing the spread in ion energies, the resultant reduction of ion axial velocity can be detrimental in modes of operation where a rapidly changing influx of ions to the gas-filled ion guide needs to be reproduced at the exit. In general, the RF-only ion guides presently in use are based on multipole rod sets. Here we report investigations into a new mode of ion propulsion within an RF ion guide based on a stack of ring electrodes. Ion propulsion is produced by superimposing a voltage pulse on the confining RF of an electrode and then moving the pulse to an adjacent electrode and so on along the guide to provide a travelling voltage wave on which the ions can surf. Through appropriate choice of the travelling wave pulse height, velocity and gas pressure it will be shown that the stacked ring ion guide with the travelling wave is effective as a collision cell in a tandem mass spectrometer where fast mass scanning or switching is required, as an ion mobility separator at pressures around 0.2 mbar, as an ion delivery device for enhancement of duty cycle on an orthogonal acceleration time-of-flight (oa-TOF) mass analyser, and as an ion fragmentation device at higher wave velocities.

Abstract: Ions of kiloelectron volt energies incident on a solid surface produce a number of effects: several atoms are sputtered off, several electrons are emitted, chemical reactions may be induced, atoms are displaced from their equilibrium positions, and ions implant themselves in the solid, altering its properties. Some of these effects, such as sputtering and implantation are widely used in semiconductor device fabrication and in other fields. Thus the capability to focus a beam of ions to submicrometer dimensions, i.e., dimensions compatible with the most demanding fabrication procedures, is an important development. The focused ion beam field has been spurred by the invention of the liquid metal ion source and by the utilization of focusing columns with mass separation capability. This has led to the use of alloy ion sources making available a large menu of ion species, in particular the dopants of Si and GaAs. The ability to sputter and to also induce deposition by causing breakdown of an adsorbed film has produced an immediate application of focused ion beams to photomask repair. The total number of focused ion beamfabrication systems in use worldwide is about 35, about 25 of them in Japan. In addition, there are many more simpler focused ion beam columns for specialized uses. The interest is growing rapidly. The following range of specifications of these systems has been reported: accelerating potential 3 to 200 kV, ion current density in focal spot up to 10 A/cm2, beam diameters from 0.05 to 1 μm, deflection accuracy of the beam over the surface ±0.1 μm, and ion species available Ga, Au, Si, Be, B, As, P, etc. Some of the applications which have been demonstrated or suggested include: mask repair, lithography (to replace electron beamlithography), direct, patterned, implantationdoping of semiconductors, ion induced deposition for circuit repair or rewiring, scanning ion microscopy, and scanning ion mass spectroscopy.

Abstract: Characteristics of mass selective axial ion ejection from a linear quadrupole ion trap in the presence of an auxiliary quadrupole field are described. Ion ejection is shown to occur through coupling of radial and axial motion in the exit fringing fields of the linear ion trap. The coupling is efficient and can result in extraction of as much as 20% of the trapped ions. This, together with the very high trapping efficiencies, can yield high sensitivity mass spectral responses. The experimental apparatus is based on the ion path of a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer allowing either the q2 collision cell or the final mass analysis quadrupole to be used as the linear trap. Space charge induced distortions of the mass resolved features while using the pressurized q2 linear ion trap occur at approximately the same ion density as reported for conventional three-dimensional ion traps. These distortions are, however, much reduced for the lower pressure linear trap possibly owing to the proposed axial ejection mechanism that leads to ion ejection only for ions of considerable radial amplitude. RF heating due to the high ejection q-value and the low collision frequency may also contribute. Two hybrid RF/DC quadrupole-linear ion trap instruments are described that provide high sensitivity product ion scanning while operated in the linear ion trap mode while also retaining all conventional triple quadrupole scan modes such as precursor ion and neutral loss scan modes. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.