ISSN:
1089-7623
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
,
Electrical Engineering, Measurement and Control Technology
Notes:
Currently liquid metal ion sources (LMISs) are of great interest for a wide variety of applications—ion implantation, ion microlithography, thrusters for electric space propulsion, etc. A novel application of the LMIS is for the production of metallic cluster ions. In our laboratory we have designed and optimized the performance of a LMIS for the production of cluster ions of alkali metals. Using liquid rubidium (Rb) we have observed copious production of singly charged cluster ions (Rb+N, N=1–100). As expected the largest fraction of the emission consists of atomic ions. For low source current (〈5 μA) about 80% of the total emission current is that of Rb+. The remaining 20% consists of Rb+2 and Rb+3. However, for large emission currents (〉80 μA) we observe cluster ions as large as Rb+100. We study the mass distribution using the time-of-flight technique.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1141295
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