The Dresden EBIT: An ion source for materials research and technological applications of low-energy highly charged ions

We report on a room temperature electron beam ion trap (DEBIT: Dresden EBIT). The construction of the DEBIT allows it to produce dense electron beams with current densities of at least 500 A cm(-2) and an ionization factor of 5 x 10(21) cm(-2) for electron beam energies up to 15 keV. Ions like Fe26+. Kr34+. Xe49+ and Hg70+ have been detected by X-ray spectrometry. The developed device has a high potential for investigations in nanomechanics. potential sputtering, information technology, ion beam lithography, etc., as it was demonstrated by different authors in studies utilizing a cryogenic EBIT or ECR ion sources. To enable adequate investigations a first compact ion extraction system for the DEBIT is described. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.