Patent ID: 7670964

Claim:
A method of forming a gas cluster ion beam with a plurality of gas sources, comprising: providing a reduced-pressure enclosure; mixing a low-pressure process source and a high-pressure diluent source using a static pump to form a mixed source, wherein a delivery pressure of the low-pressure process source to the static pump is greater than about 5 torr and less than about 5 bar, and a delivery pressure of the high-pressure diluent gas to the static pump is greater than about 5 bar and less than about 30 bar; generating a gas cluster jet using the mixed source, comprising a plurality of gas clusters within the reduced-pressure enclosure; providing an ionization region within the reduced-pressure enclosure; and directing the gas cluster jet through the ionization region to ionize at least a portion of the gas clusters in the gas cluster jet to form a gas cluster ion beam.