Abstract <p>We describe a new kind of gas and metal ion source based on a planar magnetron discharge with electron injection from a vacuum-arc plasma. Additional injection of electrons, accelerated in the magnetron discharge cathode layer, enables the source’s operating pressure to be shifted to a lower range, down to 2 × 10^–4 Torr. At this pressure it is possible to effectively select ions from the plasma to form an energetic ion beam. The pressure drop between plasma generation region and ion acceleration region allows a lower pressure in the ion beam transport zone, down to 4 × 10^–5 Torr. For an accelerating voltage of 30 kV, magnetron discharge current of 80 A, and pulse duration of up to 1 ms the total ion beam current was 140 mA. By regulating the current of injected electrons one can independently control the magnetron discharge voltage and, along with the capability of changing the discharge current, this permits wide variation of the gas/metal ion ratio in the plasma and hence in the ion beam.</p>