Application of the liquid-metal ion source in thin film deposition

The liquid-metal ion source (LMIS) has become a widely used tool for producing ion microbeams, high intensity ionized cluster beams, liquid-metal drops etc. The high brightness, small source size, current stability and other advantages of the LMIS make it useful for application to surface cleaning, preliminary implantation, film deposition and quality control. In this paper, as an example of such an application, experimental studies of indium film deposition on a tantalum surface are presented. A thin film of indium was deposited by means of indium droplets from the LMIS on a previously prepared tantalum substrate. At the same time, film quality control by sputter-induced photon spectroscopy was performed. The radiation spectra emitted by the excited particles sputtered from the tantalum surface before and after indium film deposition were measured. Comparison of the resulting spectra allowed us to estimate the film quality. It is shown that the films investigated have a homogeneous structure.