EXCITED OXYGEN BEAM BY RF TYPE MULTICAPILLARY ION-SOURCE

We have developed a compact ion source for ion-assisted film formation . This ion source has two specific features, The first is the ability to feed the discharge gas through a multicapillary nozzle that consist s of a few hundred bundled capillaries. Consequently, the gaseous flow becomes intense and collimated. The second feature is producing the p lasma by inductive coupled R.F. discharge. Since the R.F. coil is not exposed in the plasma, this ion source can operate with various reacti ve gases. Moreover, since ions can be extracted into the chamber witho ut extraction grids, the ion energy can be low. It is found that the e xcited oxygen beam produced by this method includes oxygen ions and at omic oxygen. The flux of excited oxygen species is calculated from the increasing mass of an oxidized silver thin film bombarded by the exci ted oxygen beam. In the pressure range from 10(-1) to 10(-2) Pa, a flu x density of excited oxygen species above 10(16) atoms cm(-2) s(-1) is obtained.