Development of an improved field ionization detector incorporating a secondary electron stage

Field ionization from sharp tips is attracting increased attention for use in detectors for neutral atomic/molecular species. However, the direct detection of the ionized species typically results in low sensitivities due to the small acceptance angle of the receiving ion-sensitive measurement devic...

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Main Authors: Fahy, A., O’Donnell, Kane, Barr, M., Zhou, X., Allison, W., Dastoor, P.
Format: Journal Article
Published: IOP Publishing Ltd 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10372
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author Fahy, A.
O’Donnell, Kane
Barr, M.
Zhou, X.
Allison, W.
Dastoor, P.
author_facet Fahy, A.
O’Donnell, Kane
Barr, M.
Zhou, X.
Allison, W.
Dastoor, P.
author_sort Fahy, A.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Field ionization from sharp tips is attracting increased attention for use in detectors for neutral atomic/molecular species. However, the direct detection of the ionized species typically results in low sensitivities due to the small acceptance angle of the receiving ion-sensitive measurement device (usually a channel electron multiplier) and can result in sputtering damage due to the relatively high mass and energy of the incident ion species. Here we present a design for a field-ionization-based neutral atom detector incorporating a simple secondary electron generating stage. The use of such a stage decouples the field-ionized species from the detected electron signal, thus eliminating any sputtering damage to the channel electron multiplier. The detector armature discussed is shown to exhibit a linear response to neutral gas pressure and a sensitivity that is improved by more than two orders of magnitude over a previous field ionization detector design.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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publishDate 2011
publisher IOP Publishing Ltd
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-103722017-09-13T14:52:05Z Development of an improved field ionization detector incorporating a secondary electron stage Fahy, A. O’Donnell, Kane Barr, M. Zhou, X. Allison, W. Dastoor, P. neutral atom detection helium atom microscopy field ionization Field ionization from sharp tips is attracting increased attention for use in detectors for neutral atomic/molecular species. However, the direct detection of the ionized species typically results in low sensitivities due to the small acceptance angle of the receiving ion-sensitive measurement device (usually a channel electron multiplier) and can result in sputtering damage due to the relatively high mass and energy of the incident ion species. Here we present a design for a field-ionization-based neutral atom detector incorporating a simple secondary electron generating stage. The use of such a stage decouples the field-ionized species from the detected electron signal, thus eliminating any sputtering damage to the channel electron multiplier. The detector armature discussed is shown to exhibit a linear response to neutral gas pressure and a sensitivity that is improved by more than two orders of magnitude over a previous field ionization detector design. 2011 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10372 10.1088/0957-0233/22/11/115902 IOP Publishing Ltd restricted
spellingShingle neutral atom detection
helium atom microscopy
field ionization
Fahy, A.
O’Donnell, Kane
Barr, M.
Zhou, X.
Allison, W.
Dastoor, P.
Development of an improved field ionization detector incorporating a secondary electron stage
title Development of an improved field ionization detector incorporating a secondary electron stage
title_full Development of an improved field ionization detector incorporating a secondary electron stage
title_fullStr Development of an improved field ionization detector incorporating a secondary electron stage
title_full_unstemmed Development of an improved field ionization detector incorporating a secondary electron stage
title_short Development of an improved field ionization detector incorporating a secondary electron stage
title_sort development of an improved field ionization detector incorporating a secondary electron stage
topic neutral atom detection
helium atom microscopy
field ionization
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10372