Weakening focusing effect of acceleration-deceleration column of ion implanter

Abstract

A method and apparatus for weakening a strong focus effect of an acceleration-deceleration column of an ion implanter during a deceleration mode are disclosed. The apparatus includes a tube lens surrounding the ion beam adjacent to a deceleration lens of the acceleration-deceleration column. The tube lens causes a defocusing of the ion beam at the entrance of the tube lens, which reduces the ion dispersion problem generated by the column. The invention also includes an accel-decel column and ion implanter incorporating the tube lens. An additional deceleration-suppression electrode may also be added subsequent to the tube lens for confining electrons within the tube lens.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Technical Field [0002] The present invention relates generally to ion implanters, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for weakening a strong focus effect of an acceleration-deceleration column of an ion implanter. [0003] 2. Related Art [0004] Improving productivity of ion implanters that use a low energy beam is a continuing issue in the ion implanter industry. One area of focus is improving beam transport efficiency. In any ion beam, the positively charged ions tend to repel one another, which causes loss of ions and poor beam transport. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional ion implanter 100 is illustrated. Ion implanter 100 generates and transmits an ion beam 104 to a target 106 in an implant chamber 108. Ion implanter 100 includes a gas flow 140; an ion source 142 including a source magnet 144 and a source bias voltage controller 146; a suppression electrode 148, an extraction electrode 150 and one or more manipulator motors (not ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The invention is about a method and apparatus for reducing the focusing effect of an ion beam during deceleration in an ion implanter. The apparatus includes a tube lens that causes defocusing of the ion beam, which reduces the problem of ion dispersion. This results in a weaker focus effect of the ion beam during deceleration. The invention also includes an accel-decel column and ion implanter incorporating the tube lens. Additionally, a deceleration-suppression electrode can be added to further confine electrons within the tube lens. The technical effect of the invention is to improve the accuracy and precision of ion beam implantation."

Problems solved by technology

Improving productivity of ion implanters that use a low energy beam is a continuing issue in the ion implanter industry.

In any ion beam, the positively charged ions tend to repel one another, which causes loss of ions and poor beam transport.

The large convergent angle causes ion beam 104 to have a large divergent angle afterwards, i.e., the ion will move outwardly with the same amount of vertical velocity component and thus increases the dispersion problem and reduce the transport efficiency of the low energy beam, i.e., ions are loss to dispersion as the beam exits accel-decel column 200.

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