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An ion source includes an anode and/or cathode which is/are coated with a conductive coating. The coating has a sputtering yield less than that of an uncoated anode and/or cathode, so that erosion of the resulting anode and/or cathode in the source is reduced during source operation. Example coating

An ion source includes an anode and/or cathode which is/are coated with a conductive coating. The coating has a sputtering yield less than that of an uncoated anode and/or cathode, so that erosion of the resulting anode and/or cathode in the source is reduced during source operation. Example coating materials for the anode and/or cathode of the ion beam source include metal borides including but not limited to TiB 2 and ZrB 2 .

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1. An ion source comprising:an anode and a cathode, with an electric gap defined between the anode and the cathode; andwherein each of the anode and cathode is at least partially coated with a conductive coating comprising a metal boride. 2. The ion source of claim 1, wherein the metal boride is MeB

1. An ion source comprising:an anode and a cathode, with an electric gap defined between the anode and the cathode; andwherein each of the anode and cathode is at least partially coated with a conductive coating comprising a metal boride. 2. The ion source of claim 1, wherein the metal boride is MeB x , where Me is one of Ti, Zr, Ta and Fe. 3. The ion source of claim 2, wherein x in MeB x is from about 1 to 4. 4. The ion source of claim 1, wherein the metal boride comprises one of TiB 2 and ZrB 2 . 5. The ion source of claim 1, wherein the metal boride comprises titanium boride. 6. The ion source of claim 1, wherein the coating is from about 5 to 20 μm thick. 7. The ion source of claim 1, wherein the cathode is coated with the coating at least in an area adjacent the electric gap. 8. The ion source of claim 1, wherein a sputtering yield of the coating is no more than about 20% of that of an uncoated anode or cathode, given a reference gas of acetylene (C 2 H 2 ) being fed through the ion source. 9. The ion source of claim 1, wherein the ion source is a cold-cathode closed-drift type ion beam source. 10. The ion source of claim 1, wherein the coating has a bulk resistivity of no greater than about 20×10 −5 ohms-cm. 11. The ion source of claim 1, wherein another layer is provided between the coating and the anode and/or cathode on which the coating is provided. 12. An ion source comprising:a conductive anode and a conductive cathode, with a gap defined between the anode and the cathode; andwherein the ion source is manufactured so that each of the anode and cathode is at least partially coated with a coating comprising a metal boride. 13. The ion source of claim 12, wherein the metal boride is MeB x , where Me is one of Ti, Zr, Ta and Fe. 14. The ion source of claim 12, wherein the metal boride comprises one of TiB 2 and ZrB 2 . 15. The ion source of claim 12, wherein the coating has a bulk resistivity of no greater than about 20×10 −5 ohms-cm. 16. An ion source comprising:a conductive anode and a conductive cathode, with an electric gap defined between the anode and the cathode; andwherein the ion source is manufactured so that at least one of the anode and cathode is at least partially coated with a conductive coating having a sputtering yield of no more than about 20% of the sputtering yield of an uncoated anode or cathode, the conductive coating having such a sputtering yield of no more than about 20% of that of an uncoated anode or cathode given a reference gas of acetylene (C 2 H 2 ) being fed through the ion source. 17. The ion source of claim 16, wherein the conductive coating has a sputtering yield of no more than about 10% of the sputtering yield of an uncoated anode or cathode given a reference gas of acetylene (C 2 H 2 ) being fed through the ion source. 18. The ion source of claim 16, wherein the coating comprises at least one of a metal boride, a boron carbide, and a metal nitride. 19. The ion source of claim 16, wherein the coating has a bulk resistivity of no greater than about 20×10 −5 ohms-cm. 20. The ion source of claim 16, wherein each of the anode and cathode is at least partially coated with a conductive coating, and wherein the conductive coating comprises a boride of at least one metal. 21. An ion source comprising:a conductive anode and a conductive cathode, with a gap defined between the anode and the cathode; andwherein the ion source is manufactured so that each of the anode and cathode is at least partially coated with a coating comprising each of: a boride, a nitride, and a carbide. 22. The ion source of claim 21, wherein a sputtering yield of the coating is no more than about 20% of that of an uncoated anode or cathode, given a reference gas of acetylene (C 2 H 2 ) being fed through the ion source.