Low-Energy Ion Beam Irradiation System for In-Situ Observation with Electron Microscope.

Ion irradiation equipment has been developed which allows in-situ observation of microstructural evolution by transmission electron microscope (TEM) during ion irradiation at energies below 100 eV. In conventional ion source TEM interfaces, the flux of extracted ions from the ion source decreases with decreasing ion energy, and the loss of ion current during ion beam transport increases drastically. To overcome these drawbacks, the beam transport distance is shortened and the ion source and the beam transport are insulated from the ground. Ions are first extracted to a maximum of 10 keV, then transported to the specimen chamber of TEM and finally decelerated to a desired energy just before incidence at the specimen in TEM. A hydrogen ion beam current of 1, μA/2 mmφ at 100 eV is obtained at the specimen position allowing in situ microstructural observations.