Liquid metal will wet to most metallic surfaces. Specifically though, room-temperature liquid metal can be very reactive with certain metals. Liquid metal can dissolve most metals; however, at moderate temperatures, only some are slightly soluble, such as sodium, potassium, gold, magnesium, lead, nickel and mercury. Gallium is corrosive to all metals except tungsten and tantalum, which have a high resistance to corrosion, more so than niobium, titanium and molybdenum. Similar to indium, gallium and gallium-containing alloys have the ability to wet to many non-metallic surfaces such as glass and quartz. Gently rubbing the alloy into the surface may help induce wetting. However,
Liquid metal ion source Liquid metal ion source A liquid metal ion source (LMIS) is an ion source which uses metal that is heated to the liquid state and used to form an electrospray to form ions. An electrospray Taylor cone is formed by the application of a strong electric field and ions are produced by field evaporation at the sharp tip of the cone, which has a high electric field. Ions from a LMIS are used in ion implantation and in focused ion beam instruments. Typically gallium is preferred for its low melting point, low vapor pressure, its relatively unreactive nature, and because