Patent ID: 9087678
Filing Date: 2015-07-21
Classification: A61N,H01J,H05H

Abstract:
1. An ion source comprising: a laser-ablation plasma generator that generates laser-ablation plasma from a target in a vacuum vessel; an ion beam extractor that generates an ion beam by extracting ions included in the laser-ablation plasma from the vacuum vessel to output the generated ion beam to an external device; an ion detector that detects only unintended ions that are not extracted through the ion beam extractor, the unintended ions having diverged from a line from the target to the ion beam extractor, the unintended ions being obtained by ionizing elements of the target, out of ions in the vacuum vessel, the ion detector outputting a detection signal representing a value which is a number of the unintended ions or a mixing ratio of the unintended ions to the intended ions as a detection result, wherein the ion detector is disposed at a position diverged from the line from the target to the ion beam extractor so as not to interfere with the ion beam generated by the ion beam extractor and output to the external device; and an operating-control signal processing circuit that outputs an operation instructing signal to the laser-ablation plasma generator and outputs a stop instructing signal to the laser-ablation plasma generator when the value of the detection signal output from the ion detector is greater than a threshold value, wherein the laser-ablation plasma generator generates the laser-ablation plasma in response to the operation instructing signal and stops generation of the laser-ablation plasma in response to the stop instructing signal.