Patent ID: 8604418

Claim:
A method for reducing particle contamination in an ion implantation system, the method comprising: providing an ion implantation system having an ion source, a resolving aperture positioned proximate to an exit of a mass analyzer, a decel suppression plate positioned downstream of the resolving aperture, and an end station configured to support a workpiece during an implantation of ions thereto; forming an ion beam via the ion source; applying a decel suppression voltage to the decel suppression plate, therein selectively stripping electrons from the ion beam and focusing the ion beam; transferring the workpiece between the end station and an external environment; and modulating the decel suppression voltage between a non-zero minimum voltage and a maximum voltage generally concurrent with the transferring of the workpiece, therein expanding and contracting a height and/or width of the ion beam but not extinguishing the ion beam, wherein one or more surfaces of the resolving aperture are impacted by the expanding and contracting ion beam, therein generally mitigating subsequent contamination of workpieces from previously deposited material residing on the one or more surfaces.