Ion beam

An ion beam is a directed stream of charged atoms or molecules accelerated to move through space or matter. Its charged particles can be steered by electric and magnetic fields.

Ion source: A device that creates ions and extracts them into a beam. It supplies the charged particles that form the beam.
Ion implantation: A materials process that embeds accelerated ions beneath a solid surface. It uses a beam to introduce selected dopants into semiconductor wafers.
Ion: An atom or molecule with a net electric charge because it has gained or lost electrons. Every particle in an ion beam is an ion.
Electron beam: A directed stream of electrons accelerated through space or matter. Electrons are much lighter than ions, giving their beams different penetration and scattering behavior.
Ernest Lawrence: An American physicist who invented the cyclotron and shared the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics. His cyclotron accelerated ions into beams for nuclear research.
Particle accelerator: A machine that uses electromagnetic fields to accelerate charged particles. Ion beams are produced by accelerating ions in these machines.
Focused ion beam: An instrument that focuses ions into a fine probe for imaging and machining materials. It turns an ion beam into a nanoscale tool for cutting and analysis.
Plasma: A state of matter containing free charged particles and collective electromagnetic behavior. Many ion sources create ions from plasma before extracting them into a beam.
Proton beam: A beam of accelerated protons, which are positively charged hydrogen nuclei. It is a specific ion beam with distinctive uses in research and cancer therapy.
Cyclotron: A circular particle accelerator that uses a magnetic field and alternating electric field to accelerate charged particles. It helped establish practical methods for producing energetic ion beams.

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Beam techniquesCompared with: Ion beams can transfer momentum and remove material more directly than light beams.