Apparatus and techniques for beam mapping in ion beam system

Abstract

An apparatus for monitoring of an ion beam. The apparatus may include a processor; and a memory unit coupled to the processor, including a display routine, where the display routine operative on the processor to manage monitoring of the ion beam. The display routine may include a measurement processor to receive a plurality of spot beam profiles of the ion beam, the spot beam profiles collected during a fast scan of the ion beam and a slow mechanical scan of a detector, conducted simultaneously with the fast scan. The fast scan may comprise a plurality of scan cycles having a frequency of 10 Hz or greater along a fast scan direction, and the slow mechanical scan being performed in a direction parallel to the fast scan direction. The measurement processor may also send a display signal to display at least one set of information, derived from the plurality of spot beam profiles.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for control of an ion beam, comprising:
 a beam scanner to perform a fast scan of the ion beam over a plurality of scan cycles along a fast scan direction;   a detector, disposed to intercept the ion beam, and to perform a slow scan simultaneous to the fast scan, the slow scan comprising moving the detector from a first position to a second position along a scan path parallel to the fast scan direction, wherein a plurality of spot beam profiles are received by the detector during the slow scan;   a user interface, coupled to the detector; and   a controller, coupled to the beam scanner, the user interface, and the detector, the controller comprising:
 a processor; and 
 a memory unit coupled to the processor, including a display routine, the display routine operative on the processor to send a display signal to display on the user interface, at least one set of information, derived from the plurality of spot beam profiles. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , the user interface comprising a plurality of fields and at least one user selection device, wherein the display routine operative to send the display signal, in response to user input received from the at least one user selection device. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , the at least one user selection device comprising a BEAM RAY MAP button, the display routine operative on the processor to send a scan initiate signal to the beam scanner and the detector, responsive to an input signal from the BEAM RAY MAP button, wherein the beam scanner performs the fast scan and the detector simultaneously performs the slow scan. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , the at least one user selection device comprising a SPOT POSITION ABSOLUTE button, the display routine being operative on the processor to send, responsive to an input signal from the SPOT POSITION ABSOLUTE button, a first display signal to present at least some spot beam profiles of the plurality of spot beam profiles in a select field of the plurality of fields, wherein the at least some spot beam profiles are presented as a function of position along the scan path. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , the at least one user selection device comprises a SPOT POSITION RELATIVE button, the display routine being operative on the processor to send, responsive to an input signal from the SPOT POSITION RELATIVE button, a second display signal to present at least some spot beam profiles of the plurality of spot beam profiles in a superimposed fashion in a select field of the plurality of fields. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , the at least one user selection device comprising a BEAM RAY button wherein the display routine being operative on the processor to calculate, responsive to an input signal from the BEAM RAY button, a spot beam center position for at least some spot beam profiles of the plurality of spot beam profiles; and send a format signal to display on the user interface a comparison of the spot beam center position to an ideal center position. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , the display routine to:
 receive position information of the detector during the slow scan, the position information comprising a plurality of detector locations, collected at a plurality of instances;   receive a set of spot beam profiles, corresponding to the plurality of detector locations;   determine a spot beam center position at the plurality of detector locations;   determine a difference between the spot beam center position the ideal center position at the plurality of detector locations; and   send a signal to display on the user interface the difference as a function of detector location.   
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , the display routine to:
 determine a spot beam half-width for the plurality of spot beam profiles; and   responsive to user input, send a signal to display half-width of at least some spot beam profiles of the plurality of the spot beam profiles.   
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , the display routine to generate a plurality of average spot beam profiles from the plurality of spot beam profiles, wherein an average spot beam profile comprises an average of five spot beam profiles recorded in succession. 
     
     
         10 . A method of controlling an ion beam, comprising:
 scanning the ion beam over a plurality of scan cycles along a fast scan direction;   mechanically scanning a detector through the ion beam in a slow scan during the plurality of scan cycles of the ion beam, from a first position to a second position along a scan path parallel to the fast scan direction, wherein the detector generates a plurality of spot beam profiles, wherein a spot beam profile corresponds to a beam profile of the ion beam at a given location of the detector along the scan path; and   displaying on a user interface at least one set of information, derived from the plurality of spot beam profiles.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the displaying further comprises sending a signal, responsive to user input, to display at least some of the plurality of the spot beam profiles. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the at least some of the plurality of the spot beam profiles are displayed in a superimposed fashion. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , the displaying further comprising:
 receiving position information of the detector, the position information comprising a plurality of detector locations, collected at a plurality of instances;   receiving a set of spot beam profiles, corresponding to the plurality of detector locations;   determining a spot beam center position at the plurality of detector locations;   determining a difference between the spot beam center position and an ideal center position at the plurality of detector locations; and   sending a signal to display the difference as a function of detector location.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , the displaying comprising:
 determining a spot beam half-width for the plurality of spot beam profiles; and   responsive to user input, sending a signal to display the spot beam half-width, for at least some spot beam profiles of the plurality of the spot beam profiles.   
     
     
         15 . An apparatus for control of an ion beam, comprising:
 a beam scanner to perform a fast scan of the ion beam, along a fast scan direction, over a plurality of scan cycles;   a detector, disposed to intercept the ion beam, and to perform a slow scan simultaneous to the fast scan, the slow scan comprising moving the detector from a first position to a second position along a scan path parallel to the fast scan direction, wherein a plurality of spot beam profiles are received by the detector during the slow scan; and   a controller, coupled to the beam scanner and the detector, the controller comprising:
 a processor; and 
 a memory unit coupled to the processor, including a display routine, the display routine operative on the processor to:
 receive position information of the detector during the slow scan, the position information comprising a plurality of detector locations, collected at a plurality of instances; 
 receive a set of spot beam profiles, corresponding to the plurality of detector locations; 
 determine a spot beam center position at the plurality of detector locations; 
 determine a difference between the spot beam center position and an ideal center position at the plurality of detector locations; and 
 send a signal to display on a user interface the difference as a function of detector location. 
 
   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , the display routine to:
 determine a spot beam half-width for the plurality of spot beam profiles; and   responsive to user input, send a signal to display half-width of at least some spot beam profiles of the plurality of the spot beam profiles.   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , the display routine to display on the user interface, at least one set of information derived from the plurality of spot beam profiles. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , the controller further comprising a user interface including a plurality of fields and at least one user selection device, wherein the display routine is operative to send a display signal in response to user input received from the at least one user selection device.