Ion gun
An Ion Gun typically refers to an instrument that generates a beam of heavy ions with a well defined energy distribution. The ion beam is produced from a plasma that has been confined within a volume. Ions of a particular energy are extracted, accelerated, collimated and/or focused. The ion gun is composed of an ion source, extraction grid structure and a collimation/lensing structure. The plasma can be made up of an inert or reactive gas (e.g. N and O) or an easily condensable substance (e.g. C and B). The plasma can be formed from molecules that contain the substance which will form the beam, in which case, these molecules must be fragmented then ionized (e.g. H and CH4 can together be fragmented and ionized to create a beam for depositing diamond-like carbon films).