Feasibility study on high current ion beam extraction from anode spot plasma for large area ion implantation

• High current ion beam up to 6.4 mA is successfully extracted from anode spot plasma.
• Around 43 times enhancement in ion beam current is achieved with anode spot plasma.
• The optimum operating pressure depends on the size of bias electrode exposed to plasma.
• The anode spot plasma slightly larger than the bias electrode is preferable.
• The particle balance model of anode spot explains the experimental results quite well.

In this paper, we have investigated the feasibility of the high current beam extraction from anode spot plasma as an ion source for large area ion implantation. Experiments have been carried out with the ambient plasma produced by inductive coupling with radio-frequency (RF) power of 200 W at the frequency of 13.56 MHz. Anode spot plasmas are generated near the extraction hole of 2 mm in diameter at the center of a bias electrode whose area exposed to the ambient plasma can be changed. It is found that the maximum ion beam current is extracted at the optimum operating pressure at which the area of bias electrode exposed to ambient plasma is fully covered with the anode spot plasma whose size is dominantly determined by the operating pressure for given gas species. It is also observed that the extracted ion beam current increases nonlinearly with the bias power due to the changes in size and shape of the anode spot plasma. With the well-established anode spot plasma operating at the optimum gas pressure, we have successfully extracted high current ion beam of 6.4 mA (204 mA/cm2) at the bias power of 22 W (∼10% of RF power), which is 43 times larger than that extracted from the plasma without anode spot. Based on the experimental results, criteria for electrode design and operating pressure for ion beam extraction from larger extraction aperture are suggested. In addition, the stability of anode spot plasma in the presence of ion beam extraction through an extraction hole is discussed in terms of the particle balance model.