AbstractIn order to apply ion beam etching with hydrogen ions to the ultra-precision processing of diamond tools, hydrogen ion beam etching characteristics of single crystal diamond chips with (100) face were investigated. The etching rate of diamond for 500 eV and 1000 eV hydrogen ions increases with the increase of the ion incidence angle, and eventually reaches a maximum at the ion incidence angle of approximately 50°, then may decrease with the increase of the ion incidence angle. The dependence of the etching rate on the ion incidence angle of hydrogen ions is fairly similar to that obtained with argon ions. Furthermore, the surface roughness of diamond chips before and after hydrogen ion beam etching was evaluated using an atomic force microscope. Consequently, the surface roughness after hydrogen ion beam etching decreases with the increase of the ion incidence angle within range of the ion incidence angle of 60°.
In situcleaning of metal cathodes using a hydrogen ion beam