Beam size reduction of a several hundred-keV compact ion microbeam system by improving the extraction condition in an ion source

A several hundred-keV compact ion microbeam system with a three-stage acceleration lens has been developed to form an ion beam of several micrometers in diameter. In a previous study of the Ohkubo et al. (2013) and Ishii et al. (2014), a hydrogen beam of 143 keV having 17 μm diameter was experimentally formed using such a microbeam system. It was demonstrated that a three-stage acceleration lens functioned as a focusing lens and indicated that the beam diameter (hereinafter referred to as the “beam size”) depended on the extraction voltage to generate the ion beam and the vacuum pressure in the extraction space in a plasma-type ion source. In this study, the hydrogen beam sizes were experimentally measured at 130 keV as functions of the extraction voltage and vacuum pressure to form the beam size with several micrometers in diameter. These two relationships showed that beam sizes were reduced in the extraction voltage range of 400–500 V and when the vacuum pressure was lowered to a minimum value of 5.33 × 10−5 Pa. In addition, the result showed that the beam size was dominantly influenced by the vacuum pressure. Consequently, a hydrogen beam 5.8 μm in diameter was formed experimentally—the smallest beam yet obtained.