Ionization mechanism in liquid metallic ion source. Source for high-melting metals

Ionization mechanism in liquid-metallic ion source (LMIS) was studied. Micropeaks extracted from liquid metal by electrical field were detected at the surface of a liquid-metallic emitter frozen in high voltage field at the moment of ion current generation. Two constituents were separated out of the ion beam extracted from the extractor aperture using binary focusing mass-spectrometer. Ion formation mechanism in LMIS is suggested on the basis of the conducted studies. The source enables to generate ion beam using high-melting metals and metalloids. Ion beams of Ta, W, Mo, C, Fe are generated