ECR Sources

HEXAR

Broad Beam ECR source for surface processing in vacuum

HEXAR is composed of an hexagonal arrangement of mini microwave cavities that each operate an ECR discharge at ultra low RF power (a few Watts per cavity at 2.45 GHz).

This approach is successful because of the reliability and stability of the ECR plasma, and the fact that the source has no consumables.

In addition, it enables control over the current density profile of the beam, in a way inaccessible to standard broad beam sources. The current density profile can be varied both in shape and in amplitude through the combination of gas flow, optics, and applied RF power.

HEXAR is a scalable concept that enables the fabrication of sources adapted to the treatment of a wide range of surface sizes. Typical applications are ion beam etching, surface cleaning, ion assisted deposition and ion beam sputter deposition

Specifications +

Applications	Etching, figuring, sputtering, surface activation, surface modification, cleaning, and deposition
Source type	ECR filament free
Gas	H₂, He, N₂, O₂, noble gas, molecular gas
Beam Current	Up to 40 mA (@2 kV)
Beam voltage	0.1 – 2 kV 3 grids acc/decc
Beam size at grid	80 mm
Length	110 mm
Diameter	130 mm
Microwave power	7x20 W + 1x20 W (electrons)
Microwave matching	No
Cooling	Oil or de-ionized water
Mounting	CF160 standard. Adaptable to other flanges
Electronics	19" rack 6U: Control command (inc.HF) and 8 HF generators Cooler (500 W)
Hardware control	API available via Microcontroller
Communication protocol	Ethernet UDP, RS232
User interface	GUI executable (ethernet UDP only)
Source gas control	Mass-Flow Controller (MFC)
Insertion depth	210 mm
Number of cavities	7 (+1 with neutralizer)
Options	Longer cables, and neutralizer

Applications +
- Ion beam sputter deposition
  
  Ion Beam Sputter Deposition (IBSD) is a physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique that consists in adding a thin film to the substrate surface to improve its material properties. Traditional challenges of IBSD such as high maintenance, high level of complexity, and difficulty to scale up are overcome thanks to CAMECA’s unique ECR technology.
  
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- Ion implantation
  
  Ion implantation consists in adding ions to the interior of a substrate to change its elemental composition and improve material properties. It is commonly used for steel toughening, medical implants, and semiconductor device fabrication.
  
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- Ion beam figuring (IBF)
  
  Ion Beam Figuring consists in locally sputtering atoms in order to create a surface with a specified profile. It is a used for precise figuring and finishing of optical elements, such as spheres, aspheres and free forms on lenses and mirrors. CAMECA’s ECR technology and ion optics system offer the highest flexibility in beam size, shape, and energy.
  
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- Etching, cleaning, polishing & milling
  
  Sputter cleaning, ion polishing, milling and cutting are all based on Ion Beam Sputtering. They are used as a surface preparation step before depositing a thin film, before high resolution imaging or surface analysis as well as for nanostructuring a surface. CAMECA’s ECR technology delivers stable and reliable beams, eliminating the maintenance required with filament-based technologies.
  
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- Ion assisted deposition
  
  Ion Assisted Deposition consists in modifing the properties of a growing thin film by directing an ion beam at it. It can also be used to purposely introduce compressive stress in the film to improve its mechanical properties. The stability and reliability of CAMECA ECR technology is attractive for ion assistance applications.
  
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- Nuclear and atomic physics
  
  CAMECA high energy single cavity sources are used in various setups for nuclear and atomic physics, ranging from particle injection into electrostatic storage rings or charge boosters, to power testing of future neutron detectors.
  
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Documentation +
- HEXAR Product – Flyer
- HEXAR – Datasheet

Scientific publications +

Scientific Publications

Below is a selection of publications by users of CAMECA ECR Sources:

Novel low-temperature and high-flux hydrogen plasma source for extreme-ultraviolet lithography applications. A. S. Stodolna, T. W. Mechielsen, P. van der Walle, C. Meekes, H. Lensen. Published Online: 6 August 2024. Read full article

Ion source developments to supply mono & multi charged ion beams to the new NHa C400 hadrontherapy system. L. Maunoury, P. Velten, X. Donzel, V. Engelen, G. Collignon, P. Sortais, J. Perrussel, P. Paliard and D. Bérard. Citation L. Maunoury et al 2024 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 2743 012090. Read full article

Development of a high current electron beam facility for compact accelerator neutron source target thermal tests. J.F. Muraz, D. Santos, V. Ghetta, J. Giraud, O. Guillaudin, P. Sortais, T. Thuillier, J. Marpaud, M. Chala, M. Forlino, M. Hervé. Volume 1062, May 2024, 169214. Read full article

Controlling the optical properties of hafnium dioxide thin films deposited with electron cyclotron resonance ion beam deposition. Chalisa Gier, Marwa Ben Yaala, Callum Wiseman, Sean MacFoy, Martin Chicoine, François Schiettekatte, James Hough, Sheila Rowan, Iain Martin, Peter MacKay, Stuart Reid, Volume 771, 30 April 2023, 139781. Read full article

Processing and characterization of a multibeam sputtered nanocrystalline CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloy film. P. Nagy, N. Rohbeck, G. Roussely, P. Sortais, J.L. Lábárb, J. Gubicza, J. Michler, L. Pethö. Received 16 July 2019, Revised 31 January 2020, Accepted 11 February 2020, Available online 11 February 2020, Version of Record 29 February 2020. Read full article

Amorphous Silicon with Extremely Low Absorption: Beating Thermal Noise in Gravitational Astronomy. I. A. Birney, J. Steinlechner, Z. Tornasi, S. MacFoy, D. Vine, A. S. Bell3, D. Gibson, J. Hough, S. Rowan et al. P. Sortais, S. Sproules, S. Tait, I. W. Martin, and S. Reid1. Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 191101 – Published 6 November, 2018.
Read full article

Effect of elevated substrate temperature deposition on the mechanical losses in tantala thin film coatings.Classical and Quantum Gravity, 35, 075001. (doi:10.1088/1361-6382/aaad7c). Vajente, G., Birney, R., Ananyeva, A., Angelova, S., Asselin, R., Baloukas, B., Bassiri, R., Billingsley, G., Fejer, M.M., Gibson, D., Godbout, L.J., Gustafson, E., Heptonstall, A., Hough, J., MacFoy, S., Markosyan, A., Martin, I.W., Martinu, L., Murray, P.G., Penn, S., Roorda, S., Rowan, S., Schiettekatte, F., Shink, R., Torrie, C., Vine, D., Reid, S., and Adhikari, R.X. 08 February 2018. Read full article

Some of our ECR sources users +
CAMECA's ECR source customers are spread over all continents, with over 80% being industrials from the semiconductor, analytics, and healthcare sectors. Here are some of our academic customers:
- Afisy Technologies, Changsha, China
- Centre d’Élaboration de Matériaux et d’Études Structurales (CEMES), Toulouse, France
- Chimie des Interactions Plasma-Surface (ChIPS), Université de Mons, Belgium
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Maryland, USA
- Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France
- Institut Lumière Matière, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France
- Institut de Physique Nucléaire d’Orsay, France
- Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay, France
- Institute of Thin Films, Sensors and Imaging, University of the West of Scotland, UK
- Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie (CNRS/IN2P3), Grenoble, France
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California, USA
- Max-Planck Institute, Heidelberg, Germany
- Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), Delft, Netherlands
- Strathclyde University, Glasgow, UK
- TATA Institute for Fundamental Research, Hyderabad, India
- The Multi-Scale Laboratory of the Mechanics of Materials group at Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands
- University of Milano Bicocca, Italy