A novel electrostatic slanted-grid-type ion spectrometer and the development and characterization of semiconductor ion detectors

A new slanted-grid-type ion-energy spectrometer has the following unique ch aracteristic properties: (i) This spectrometer has the capability of a comp lete separation of ions from X-rays, neutral particles and electrons. (ii) No use of magnetic fields means no disturbances of ambient plasma-confineme nt magnetic fields. (iii) Its simple single-channel collector plate for "en ergy-derivative'' direct spectrum measurements does not require its strict alignment. Furthermore, upgraded semiconductor ion detectors are developed for the purpose of plasma-ion-energy analyses in a wide-ion-energy range fr om only a few hundred eV to several tens of keV. The responses of these det ectors are investigated using a test-ion-beam line. The ion-energy spectrom eter using the semiconductor detector as a collector is demonstrated to hav e a signal-to-noise ratio of 2-3 orders of magnitude better than ion spectr ometers using metal-collector detectors without the effects of X-rays and e lectrons from plasmas.