In spite of the fact that a great deal of research has been carried out on
liquid metal ion sources, surprisingly few results exist on the temperature
dependence of their emission characteristics. In this article we study two
Liquid metal alloy ion sources (LMAISs), namely Co36Nd64 and Au77Ge14Si9.
While the results of the former source were as expected, the latter display
ed an entirely different dependence of its emission characteristics on temp
erature. The unusual results of the Au77Ge14Si9 LMAIS are explained in term
s of the abnormal behavior of the surface tension of the alloy with tempera
ture. (C) 2001 American Vacuum Society.