Alloy Liquid Metal Ion Source for Carbon Focused Ion Beams

An aluminium-carbon-cerium alloy Liquid Metal Ion Source (AlCCe LMIS) is presented for generating of focused ion beams of carbon ions as well as ionized clusters with a size of 2, 4 and 8 atoms. Emission current dependent measurements were carried out of the mass spectra and energy spread of all species, but focused to the carbon monomer ions and clusters. A FWHM of the energy distribution was determined to be 6.5 eV for the monomer carbon ion and 14 eV for the light clusters at an emission current of 5 µA. The source showed a good beam performance after inserting in a mass separated focused ion beam (FIB) system. Applications to graphene structures, organic matter and other carbon containing materials are promising tasks of the new carbon containing alloy LMIS.