1.0 INTRODUCTION

Ion bombardment of surfaces has been used in connection with thin film deposition for decades. The amount and type of ion bombardment greatly influences film structure and composition; this, in turn, determines optical, mechanical and electrical properties of the film. The bombardment can be achieved using a number of techniques, some of which are very simple. However, the highest degree of control of critical parameters (e.g., ion flux, energy, species, and angle of incidence) is provided by broad-beam Kaufman ion sources. This is because the gas discharge of the ion source is separate and removed from the rest of the deposition system. This is not the case with some other ion bombardment techniques used in film deposition. The discussion here is restricted to applications of the broad-beam Kaufman ion source. For discussion of other ion sources see Refs. 1 3.

The following material is consistent with the general nature of this volume in that application, or "how-to," aspects of ion beams for thin film deposition are emphasized. References are given to more in-depth technical treatments of several topics. For example, Harper et al.,[3] gave an excellent review of modification of film properties provided by ion bombardment. The first two sections which follow are fairly general, while the section discussing applications is somewhat specific. This is a result of the backgrounds of two of the authors in optical materials. Also, the authors' approach is that it is more beneficial to...