The ion implantation process involves the injection of a quantity of ions (either as single atoms or molecules) into materials to alter the physical properties of the material. The most common applications effect the electrical properties of semiconductors such as silicon or gallium arsenide by controlling whether and under what conditions a region would be electrically conductive or insulating. Additionally, ion implantation may be used to affect crystallographic properties by establishing a plane along which a crystal can be cleaved or to change the chemical properties in a way that might bind undesirable contaminating atoms in a region isolated from the device. The high performance of modern semiconductor devices is made possible by (among other advances) the precise control of doping concentration and depth afforded by switching from chemical diffusions to ion implantation. New and more innovative applications are constantly appearing in technologies for both mainstream and niche markets and the quantity of ion implantation used in most technologies is increasing to satisfy the increasingly complex requirements. The concentration of technical expertise and tooling allows INNOViON to enable advances in technologies ranging from mainstream silicon, SOI (silicon on insulator), VCSEL’s and Opto-Electric devices.

The diagram above illustrates a typical implanter "beam line".  In the foreground is the "source" where a designated chemical is converted into a plasma under high vacuum and electrical force.   An "extraction magnet" pulls the now electrically charged particles from the source and sends the plasma past a 90 degree magnet that has the effect resolving the ionic particles into their individual masses.  Once resolved, the desired atomic mass unit (AMU) beam is accelerated to the desired energy and implanted into the target wafer.