Liquid metal ion source
Encyclopedia
In a Liquid metal ion source (LMIS), a metal (typically gallium
) is heated to the liquid state and provided at the end of a capillary or a needle. Then a Taylor cone
is formed under the application of a strong electric field. As the cone's tip get sharper, the electric field becomes stronger, until ions are produced by field evaporation. These ion sources are particularly used in ion implantation
or in focused ion beam
instruments.
Gallium
Gallium is a chemical element that has the symbol Ga and atomic number 31. Elemental gallium does not occur in nature, but as the gallium salt in trace amounts in bauxite and zinc ores. A soft silvery metallic poor metal, elemental gallium is a brittle solid at low temperatures. As it liquefies...
) is heated to the liquid state and provided at the end of a capillary or a needle. Then a Taylor cone
Taylor cone
A Taylor cone refers to the cone observed in electrospinning, electrospraying and hydrodynamic spray processes from which a jet of charged particles emanates above a threshold voltage...
is formed under the application of a strong electric field. As the cone's tip get sharper, the electric field becomes stronger, until ions are produced by field evaporation. These ion sources are particularly used in ion implantation
Ion implantation
Ion implantation is a materials engineering process by which ions of a material are accelerated in an electrical field and impacted into another solid. This process is used to change the physical, chemical, or electrical properties of the solid...
or in focused ion beam
Focused ion beam
Focused ion beam, also known as FIB, is a technique used particularly in the semiconductor industry, materials science and increasingly in the biological field for site-specific analysis, deposition, and ablation of materials. An FIB setup is a scientific instrument that resembles a scanning...
instruments.