Ion mass and energy selective hyperthermal ion-beam assisted deposition setup

For the synthesis of high-quality thin films, ion-beam assisted deposition (IBAD) is a frequently used technique providing precise control over several substantial film properties. IBAD typically relies on the use of a broad-beam ion source. Such ion sources suffer from the limitation that they deliver a blend of ions with different ion masses, each of them possessing a certain distribution of kinetic energy. In this paper, a compact experimental setup is presented that enables the separate control of ion mass and ion kinetic energy in the region of hyperthermal energies (few 1 eV – few 100 eV). This ion energy region is of increasing interest not only for ion-assisted film growth but also for the wide field of preparative mass spectrometry. The setup consists of a constricted glow-discharge plasma beam source and a tailor-made, compact quadrupole system equipped with entry and exit ion optics. It is demonstrated that the separation of monoatomic and polyatomic nitrogen ions (N+ and N2+) is accomplished. ...