An alloy liquid metal ion source for lithium

A lithium alloy liquid metal ion source enables a long-term stable emission of Li ions. By using a Ga35Bi60Li5 alloy the difficulties in handling the chemically very active lithium as a source material could be overcome. The mass spectrum and the energy spread of certain ion species are presented and discussed. For lithium a FWHM of the energy distribution of about 2 eV at an emission current of about 1 μA was found, which is in agreement with the mass1/3 dependence of the energy spread on the mass of the projectile ion predicted by theory. (fast track communication)