A 2-100 keV, UHV ion impact spectrometer for ion-solid interaction studies

A 2 to 100 keV ion accelerator has been constructed as part of an ion impact spectrometer in which a number of analytical techniques have been combined to allow a comprehensive study of the interaction of low- and medium-energy ions with solids to be carried out under carefully controlled conditions. The overall requirements of the ion beam system in terms of ion species, beam purity, uniformity, energy spread and intensity were dictated by the interest in carrying out low-energy ion scattering, Rutherford back-scattering and thermal desorption experiments. The accelerator design utilises the principle of low-energy extraction and mass analysis, and post-acceleration up to the required high energy. The ions are produced in a duoplasmatron ion source and a parallel beam is obtained after mass selection, utilising a quadrupole triplet lens in conjunction with a 600 stigmatic focusing magnetic analyser. Proton and rare gas ion beams of 1 to 100 nA are routinely obtained on target. The 54 cm diameter, UHV target chamber is pumped by a 270 1 s-1 turbo-molecular pump in conjunction with an in-line titanium sublimator, and typical base pressures of 1 to 4 x 10-11 Torr are achieved. The target is supported in a precision, three-axis goniometer and the detection system, at present comprising a 90 mm mean diameter hemispherical energy analyser and channel electron multiplier, is mounted on a two-axis manipulator. Preliminary measurements using the system have employed the low-energy ion scattering technique to study the oxidation of a Ni(110) surface. (author)