https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06535-2
Regular Article
Transmission style gas detector for single ion irradiation and placement
Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zürich, Otto-Stern-Weg 5, 8093, Zürich, Switzerland
Received:
21
November
2024
Accepted:
7
June
2025
Published online:
26
June
2025
We report on the development and experimental characterization of a transmission-style gas ionization detector integrated with the ion microbeam system and designed for single ion sensing. The detector operates by allowing ions to pass through a single thin silicon nitride window and a short gas ionization volume (at pressures below 10 mbar) before reaching the target, thereby minimizing pre-impact energy loss and scattering. Upgrades to the ion microprobe end-station necessary to accommodate the setup are described. Focused ion beam tests demonstrated that near 100% single ion detection confidence for MeV-energy helium and nitrogen ions can be achieved reliably, with micrometer-scale spatial resolution. Detection is facilitated by operating the charge collection in the proportional regime, and ion placement precision was evaluated by scanning the ion beam across a knife-edge, with experimental results closely matching SRIM simulations. The influence of window-induced straggling was quantified, and design limitations for extending detection into the keV energy range are discussed. The presented detection system offers a promising approach for highly sensitive, target-independent, and spatially controlled single ion delivery.
© The Author(s) 2025
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
