There exists a broad need in industry for hard, thin, wear-resistant coatings for a variety of products including engines, cutting and machining tools, sensors and optical instruments. Hardened surfaces can mitigate the effects of corrosion, a major source of energy loss. This project addresses these needs by developing a technique to spread low energy ions uniformly over a large area. The need is similar to that existing in the semiconductor industry for next generation etching requirements. A design for an ion source will be produced which has the ability to meet either need. The Phase I work will produce a source design based on techniques recently developed in controlled fusion research. The design employs a unique ion acceleration scheme that is not space charge limited. Thus, the accelerated beam will not be subject to the dispersive forces present in conventional acceleration methods and beam blow up at the desired low energies should not be a problem. Also, the acceleration mechanism does not limit scaling of the ion source. Phase II work will produce a full scale, prototype ion source of commercial interest which will be tested for verification of beam energy and current density with the desired type of beam ions. Commercial Application and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Potential commercial applications of the research are of interest to the microelectronics industry for manufacturing, to the cement industry for grinding operations and to the auto industry for special coatings to reduce wear and friction on numerous parts and to increase the lifetime of dyes and molds, etc. The pulp and paper industry has need for special hard coatings to reduce wear on components such as doctor blades and rollers.
