Liquid metal alloy ion sources for B, Sb, and Si

Abstract

B, Sb, and Si ion sources using liquid metal alloys have been fabricated and basic characteristics such as current–voltage relations, angular current intensity, energy distribution, and mass spectra have been measured. Singly charged B ions which amount to 33% of the total ions and have an angular current intensity of ∠40 μA/sr at a total energy spread (FWHM) of ∠20 eV were obtained using B–Ni–Pt alloys. Singly charged Si and Sb ions with an angular current intensity of ∠11 μA/sr and ∠1.4 μA/sr at an energy spread of ∠20 eV were obtained by using Si–Au and Sb–Pb–Au alloys, respectively. These ion sources could be operated for more than 10 h without any changes in mass spectra.