US 12,451,320 B2
Gas ion gun
Evelyne Salançon, Marseilles (FR); Alain Degiovanni, Marseilles (FR); Laurent Lapena, Marseilles (FR); and Roger Morin, Marseilles (FR)
Assigned to CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, Paris (FR); and UNIVERSITE D'AIX-MARSEILLE, Marseilles (FR)
Appl. No. 18/007,458
Filed by CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, Paris (FR); and UNIVERSITE D'AIX-MARSEILLE, Marseilles (FR)
PCT Filed Jul. 16, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/070061
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jan. 30, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/023094, PCT Pub. Date Feb. 3, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 20188870 (EP), filed on Jul. 31, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0307204 A1, Sep. 28, 2023
Int. Cl. H01J 37/08 (2006.01)
CPC H01J 37/08 (2013.01) [H01J 2237/0807 (2013.01)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A gas ion gun comprising:
a main chamber in which is introduced a gas to be ionized,
an anode electrode to remove electrons from the gas in order to create gas ions, the anode electrode comprising a wire made of an electrical conductive material or of a semiconductor material, the wire extending along a longitudinal axis from a proximal end to a flattened distal end and the flattened distal end being housed inside the main chamber,
a cathode to create an ionizing electric field which is greater than 10V/nm in a region near the flattened distal end of the wire,
wherein the anode electrode further comprises a crystal particle directly deposited on the flattened distal end, the electrical conductivity of the crystal particle being ten times smaller than the electrical conductivity of the wire.