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Liquid Metal Ion Source (LMIS) and Gas Field Emission Ion Source (GFEIS) are the major ones in micromachining applications so far. They have limitations of contaminations and low throughput respectively. Plasma based ion sources can produce heavier ions for higher throughput, lighter ions for fabrication of higher resolution structures, ions for doping, ion assisted direct writing of metallic, oxide, nitride and carbide layers and lines. Considering wide range of applications, a 13.56 MHz inductive coupled plasma (ICP) ion source for producing high brightness ion beams with very low energy spread has been developed. It is a very compact ion source with external helical antenna wound around a 30 mm quartz tube. 1 mA of Argon and 0.5 mA of proton ion beams have been extracted from 2 mm dia aperture in plasma electrode at 3.5 kV extraction potential and ~200W of RF power. Using LabView software and field point modules, an automated plasma diagnostic system has been designed and used to measure the plasma parameters. This paper describes the features of the ion source, ion beams produced, some results of the plasma diagnostics.
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