Creation and Development of the Ion Beam Technology

Abstract

A historical overview of the development of domestic ion beam technology is presented. It is shown that the wide application of the ion beam technology is facilitated by (i) the creation of a method for compensating the positive space charge inside an ion-source accelerating gap by the negative space charge of electrons held in crossed electric and magnetic fields, which makes it possible to increase the density of the extracted ion current by orders of magnitude over the Child–Langmuir limitations; (ii) the development of the original cold cathode sources forming ion beams from almost any compounds; and (iii) the creation of the reactive ion beam etching technique characterized by precise etching with inert gas ion beams and the selectivity of liquid etching. Based on these advances, a series of ion source modifications and technological equipment are developed for use in the manufacture of micro- and nanoelectronic products, optics, piezoelectric quartz technology, medicine, and other fields. The ways of improving the ion beam technology by creating high-energy neutral particle sources and technologies based on their use are shown.