High Voltage Engineering Europa Research implanter research ion implanter

Where an HVEE research implanter fits

High Voltage Engineering Europa, based in Amersfoort in the Netherlands, builds accelerator-based ion implanters for research rather than for high-volume production. A used HVEE research implanter is the tool of choice when a lab needs elements that a production implanter would never run, energies up to several hundred keV, or implants into heated or cooled samples. Typical users are materials science groups, photonics labs and institutes doping silicon carbide, gallium nitride or oxides.

Because each installation was configured for its first owner, there is no single standard machine. Two systems from the same decade can differ in terminal voltage, number of sources, beamlines and end stations. That makes the inspection and the configuration record more important than on any tool in our ion implantation range.

What we inspect

We start by documenting the configuration: terminal voltage, sources, analysing magnet, switching magnet if fitted, beamlines and end stations. Then we check:

• High-voltage terminal and column. Voltage holding, insulator condition and the generator. On systems with gas-insulated sections we check the insulating gas handling and the tank seals.
• Ion sources. Filaments, cathodes and sputter targets, source gas lines and the source power supplies.
• Beam transport. Magnet supplies, steering and focusing elements, slits and the scanning system.
• Vacuum. Turbomolecular and backing pumps, ion gauges and valves along every beamline.
• End stations. Sample stage heating or cooling, dose measurement, and the interlocks on doors and the high-voltage enclosure.

Where the tool is still installed, we run a beam on a reference sample to confirm the energy range before it is dismantled.

Refurbishment and relocation

Most HVEE projects are relocations from one institute to another. The work combines de-installation, crating and shipment with a careful rebuild on site: the accelerator is aligned again, the beamline is leak-checked section by section, and the high-voltage system is conditioned back to its rated voltage over several days. Our hook-up and facilities work covers power, cooling water, gases and exhaust, and commissioning and acceptance ends with a beam on target and the agreed acceptance tests.

Ion sources and vacuum pumps are the usual refurbishment items. Control systems from the 1980s and 1990s are often replaced, because a modern control system makes beam set-up faster for students and keeps a record of every implant.

Facilities

Highly installation-specific; we survey your site first.

• Three-phase power for the generator, magnets and pumps
• Cooling water for magnets, sources and pumps
• Dry nitrogen; insulating gas handling where the system uses it
• Exhaust for source gases, with gas detection for toxic species
• A shielded room, floor loading and length suited to the beamline layout

Buying advice

Ask for the original configuration drawings, the highest voltage reached in recent use and the list of species run. Toxic source gases and sputter targets used in the past affect how much decontamination the source region needs before shipping. Check early whether the system or its parts fall under export licensing, because accelerator equipment can; our article on export controls for used equipment sets out the questions to ask.