Influence of the beam current density distribution on the spatial resolution of a nuclear microprobe

The paper discusses the effect of nonuniform distribution of the ion beam phase density on the nuclear microprobe resolution. The deconvolution of the beam brightness distribution parameters was performed on the base of the beam current distribution measurements in the object collimator plane. This information gives a possibility to define the ion distribution in the phase set for a beam to be transformed by the probe-forming system into the target plane. A criterion for selecting the optimum collimator dimensions was the highest beam current for the fixed beam spot size (FWHM). This approach, with allowance for the initial distribution, makes it possible to obtain a higher beam current intensity at the center of the spot.