ISSN:
1089-7623
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
,
Electrical Engineering, Measurement and Control Technology
Notes:
Ion beams with energies of several tens of electron volts are used for forming special films with excellent physical and chemical properties by ion-beam deposition. Although the ion energy values are considered very important for controlling physical and chemical characteristics of the deposited films, most reported values for such film formation have been considerably inaccurate since they have been given simply by multiplying the power supply voltages to the discharge chambers with electron charge e. In practice, the plasma potential at which ions are generated is several to several tens of volts higher than the discharge chamber, so that the real beam energy is that much higher. Although the excess energy originating from the plasma floating potential has been negligible for usual high-energy ion implantation, it cannot be neglected for ion-beam deposition where low-energy ion beams below 100 eV are used. In this article it is indicated that knowing electron temperatures of plasmas is necessary to get the exact energy values of low-energy ion beams. Thus, it is also clarified that ion energy spreads of usual ion beams may be caused by possible fluctuation of the electron temperatures as well as by thermal motion of ions in the plasma. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1146737
