Light bath for particle suppression

摘要

An apparatus, referred to as a light bath, is disposed in a beamline ion implantation system and is used to photoionize particles in the ion beam into positively charged particles. Once positively charged, these particles can be manipulated by the various components in the beamline ion implantation system. In certain embodiments, a positively biased electrode is disposed downstream from the light bath to repel the formerly non-positively charged particles away from the workpiece. In certain embodiments, the light bath is disposed within an existing component in the beamline ion implantation system, such as a deceleration stage or a Vertical Electrostatic Energy Filter. The light source emits light at a wavelength sufficiently short so as to ionize the non-positively charged particles. In certain embodiments, the wavelength is less than 250 nm.

主权项

1. An apparatus for reducing an amount of non-positively charged particles in an ion beam, comprising:
a light source, disposed on one side of the ion beam and emitting light at a wavelength sufficiently short so as to ionize non-positively charged particles into positively charged particles; and a positively biased electrode downstream from the light source, to repel the positively charged particles, wherein the ion beam is directed toward a workpiece after exposure to the light source.