Patent ID: 9711318
Date: 2017-07-18
CPC Classifications: H01J

Claim:
1. In an ion beam source able to produce a ribbon-shaped ion beam having a measurable breadth dimension which is at least ten times greater than its thickness dimension, the breadth and thickness dimensions of the produced beam being normal to the Z-axis direction of travel for the beam, and wherein the ion beam source includes (i) a closed arc discharge chamber including a discrete solid front wall which presents at least one exit aperture for ion beam egress, a discrete solid back wall, at least two laterally positioned and oppositely situated solid adjoining sidewalls, two discrete solid and oppositely placed contiguous endwalls, and an internal cavity of determinable volume and configuration, wherein the arc discharge chamber presents a predetermined width dimension which extends along the Y-axis, a set front-to-hack dimension which extends along the Z-axis, and an arbitrarily chosen fixed length dimension which extends along the X-axis and can vary in its measurable size from about 80 mm to about 3,000 mm, (ii) at least one thermionic cathode disposed within said internal cavity volume of said arc discharge chamber, each cathode terminal being able to emit a stream of moving primary electrons on-demand, (iii) a controlled orifice for introducing a gaseous substance into the internal cavity volume of the arc discharge chamber, (iv) at least one extraction electrode located externally to the exit aperture in the front wall of the arc discharge chamber, and (v) a remotely positioned source of electrical power having both a positive terminal and a negative terminal; an operative primary electron trap assembly able to generate and install at least one discernible quadrupole magnetic field on-demand within the internal cavity volume of the arc discharge chamber, wherein said installed quadrupole magnetic field primary electron trap assembly causes