A high-flux low-energy hydrogen ion beam using an end-Hall ion source

Most ion sources that produce high-flux hydrogen ion beams perform best in the high energy range (keV). Alternatively, some plasma sources produce very-lowenergy ions (<< 10 eV). However, in an intermediate energy range of 10-200 eV, no hydrogen ion sources were found that produce high-flux beams. We believe such a source would be of interest to a variety of fields, such as surface passivation and treatment, solar winds, fusion reactors, and EUV sources. A typical ion source that is known for high fluxes at relevant ion energies is the end-Hall ion source, which produces good results with argon and oxygen, but is not used with hydrogen because of its low electron ionization cross-section. This poster shows the use of an end-Hall ion source with hydrogen. Both the flux and the ion energy distribution of the ion beam were measured using a Retarding Field Energy Analyzer (RFEA) for different settings of the source and at different positions