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Beginning with its emergence from a high-aspect ratio rectangular aperture, the physics of an intense (current density ≳ 1 mA/cm²), positively charged ion beam is explored in two distinct regions: an electron-free drift region, and a beam plasma containing a large density of space-charge neutralizing electrons. In the drift region, the beam expands due to the mutual inter-ion Coulomb repulsion. Energy, mass, and phase-space density conservation are combined with Poisson's equation to obtain the beam ion density and resulting potential of the diverging beam at any point in 3-dimensional space. Within the beam plasma, the divergence rate is assumed negligible and the beam ion density at the drift/plasma interface taken to be the beam ion density throughout the beam plasma. It is assumed that collisions between beam ions and residual gas molecules, producing a steady generation of electrons and slow residual gas ions, is the dominant mechanism sustaining the beam plasma. Charge is conserved and the energy balance of the plasma examined to obtain the electron and slow-ion densities. Electron, slow-ion, and beam ion densities are then introduced into Poisson's equation to produce a second order partial integro-differential equation requiring a numerical solution. This solution is obtained by expanding the density and potential functions in a complete set of orthogonal (Chebyshev) functions and reducing the differential equation to a system of linear algebraic equations. Calculations in the drift region, for beams of 50, 100 and 500 keV, indicate that all intense beams, regardless of the initial aspect ratio, ultimately relax into the same, near Gaussian profile. In the beam plasma, the theory was applied to a 100 keV, high aspect ratio arsenic beam. The electron density profile is predicted to display a shape similar to that of the beam ions, with the resulting net potential possessing substantial cylindrical symmetry. Both the slow-ion and electron densities and hence the degree of space-charge neutralization, are found to depend strongly on the residual gas density.

The dissociative ionization by electron impact of H₂, H₂O, and H₂S was investigated between the electron impact energies of 20 and 45 eV. Protons were the detected fragments, and a time-of-flight method was used to measure the proton kinetic energies. By also measuring the thresholds for the production of discrete energy groups of protons, it was possible to determine the dissociation limits and kinetic energy distributions for individual electronic states. It was found that autoionizing states that lead to dissociation were the major contributors of proton fragments for all of the molecules investigated. Some of the measurements are tabulated in the following table. (UNFORMATTED TABLE FOLLOWS) Molecule Threshold Dissociation Probable Probable (eV) limit (eV) state fragments H₂ 24.5±1.0 18.0±1.0 Q₁ ¹Σ(g)⁺ H⁺, H(1S) 30.5±1.0 18.0±1.0 Q₁ ¹Πᵤ H⁺, H(1S) 36.5±1.0 -- ²Πᵤ H⁺, H(2P) H₂O 24.5±1.0 19.5±1.0 -- H⁺, OH (X²Π) 29.5±1.0 23.0±1.0 -- H⁺,O(³P),H(1S) H₂S 25.5±1.0 18.0±1.0 -- H⁺, HS (X²Π) 32.0±1.0 -- -- H⁺, . . . 42.0±1.0 -- -- H⁺, . . . (TABLE ENDS)

The selectivity and sensitivity of ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) to explosives was first demonstrated by Karasek in 1974.1 Airport security has always been a concern in the United States, especially since September 11th, 2001, and as a result IMS is commonly used to screen airline passengers and their luggage at all major airports. Portable IMS systems are now widely available for a variety of applications, but as the overall size of the IMS instrumentation decreases, the sensitivity typically decreases as well. A new ion detector read out technology, a capacitive trans-impedance amplifier (CTIA), coupled to a traditional Faraday plate has shown increased sensitivity over a Faraday plate read by a conventional current to voltage converter when used in mass spectrometry. Sandia National Laboratories sponsored a project to determine whether the CTIA technology could be coupled to an IMS, and to determine the potential increase in sensitivity that could be provided to a miniature IMS equipped with the new read out technology.Sandia first provided a full size IMS, a Phemto-Chem PCP-110, which was modified to support the first generation of CTIA (CTIA1). The CTIA1 was coupled to the IMS and was successfully used to detect explosives. Next, Sandia provided miniature IMS drift tubes, but incompatibilities necessitated the design of new miniature systems. At first, only the drift tube itself was redesigned, but eventually a complete miniature IMS, including the ionizer, circuitry, and read out, was designed and built. During the design phase a new ion-beam shutter capable of increased resolution was also implemented. The second generation of CTIA was coupled to a custom drift tube and the system demonstrated increased resolution and drastically increased sensitivity to the common explosives TNT and RDX when compared to the sensitivity of the system provided by Sandia. A custom miniature drift tube coupled to a CTIA will be placed into the peripheral equipment for Sandia's MicroHound II instrumentation to provide a portable IMS with sensitivity equal to or better than bench top IMS systems.

An experimental and theoretical analysis of the effects of ion bombardment on Schottky diodes is presented. The experimentally observed shifts in diode performance are compared to the conditions of ion exposure. These experiments show that Schottky diodes exposed to ion beams show decreases in effective barrier heights and ideality factors, as well as increased incidence of premature reverse breakdown. The change in barrier height is found to be proportional to the energy of the individual ions and the total number of ions delivered to the surface. A numerical simulation of the damage process and device performance is developed. The model considers only the effect of ion exposure on the potential distribution within the metal-semiconductor junction. Comparison of experimental and modelled barrier shifts shows fair agreement, suggesting that enhancement of tunnelling currents is the dominant mechanism for barrier lowering.

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