A micro-structured atomic source system is described herein. One system includes a silicon substrate, a dielectric diaphragm, wherein the dielectric diaphragm includes a heater configured to heat an atomic source substance, an intermediary material comprising a chamber configured to receive the atomic source substance, and a guide material configured to direct a flux of atoms from the atomic source substance.

The invention concerns a guided coherent atom source (1) comprising means for generating neutral atoms in a gaseous state (2), means for cooling the atoms gas (3), means for generating a magnetic field (4), comprising an electro-magnetic micro-chip (6) deposited on a surface (18) of a substrate (14), and capable of condensing the atoms in a magnetic trap, means for generating an electro-magnetic RF field capable of extracting the condensed atoms, optical means (10) for emitting and directing an optical coherent beam (12) toward the condensed atoms able to guide the condensed atoms, characterized in that the optical means (10) and the electro-magnetic micro-chip (6) are integrated onto the same substrate (14). The invention also concerns an atomic interferometer using such a source.

A fast atomic beam (FAB) source is capable of generating fast atomic beams having characteristics of a high beam density, a precise directionality, and a wide range of controlled out put energy levels.

The FAB source is comprised of a discharge tube, an inductively coupled plasma generator for generating gas plasma in the discharge tube from introduced gas therein, positive and negative electrodes for accelerating ions to control the beam for a variety of energy levels. The negative electrode has a beam control opening for generating a FAB, wherein directionability, neutralization factor, and other FAB characteristics are controlled.

An energy beam source presented is for use in micro-fabrication tasks, such as fabrication of specific patterns, in-situ bonding, repair, connection and disconnection of electrical paths, applicable to semiconductor devices and other micro-sized circuits in integrated circuits. The beam source is made compact so that several sources can be located inside a vacuum vessel and in conjunction with micro-manipulators or micro-movement stages operated under light or electron microscope. The beam source is provided with at least three electrodes, and by applying a selected voltage, i.e., high frequency voltage, direct current voltage and ground voltage, on each the three electrodes in association with film-forming substance(s), virtually any type of deposit can be formed in any location of the workpiece. Different types of particle beam, such as positive and negative ion beams, highspeed neutral atomic beam, radical particle beam, electron beam can be produced from the beam source by judicious choice of operating parameters and the film-forming material which may be a process gas or an applied coating. By using the beam source and the method of deposit forming presented, virtually any type of fabrication tasks can be carried out on any surface and any location of a workpiece in a three-dimensional space. The availability of the compact energy beam source is expected to open a new path to such leading-edge industries as repair of semiconductor devices, circuit alteration/repair and micro-machining of ultrasmall components for various fields.

A beam charge exchanging apparatus for exchanging the charges of charged particles in a fast particle beam emitted from a source of the fast particle beam is disclosed. The apparatus comprises; a gas container for charge exchange placed in a vacuum atmosphere; holes provided in the container for passing the fast particle beam through the container; a source of gas; means for introducing the gas in the container as a high speed gas fluid; the fast particle beam is collided with the high speed gas fluid in the container for exchanging charges therebetween and turning the fast particle beam to a neutral particle beam. The apparatus further may include means for detecting the quantity of neutral particles resulting from the charge exchange by measuring the quantity of ionized gas generated in the high speed gas fluid as an electric current.

A fast atom beam source which is capable of efficiently emitting a fast atom beam with low energy and high particle flux. A plate-shaped electrode (21) has a multiplicity of atom emitting holes (7). A pair of electrodes (22 and 28) are disposed in series to face opposite to the plate-shaped electrode so as to form an electric discharge part. A power supply (24) applies an AC voltage between the pair of electrodes. A power supply (29) applies a DC voltage between the plate-shaped electrode and one of the pair of electrodes that is closer to the plate-shaped electrode. A gas inlet part (4) introduces a gas (5) to induce electric discharge in the space between the plate-shaped electrode and the pair of electrodes.