A thin film hydrogen ion source integrating field emission cathode arrays with metal hydride thin film technology is demonstrated. A prototype broad area hydrogen ion source was fabricated using Mo field emitter arrays to induce electron stimulated desorption and ionization of hydrogen from titanium hydride thin films on the gate electrodes. The hydrogen ion generation characteristics of the device were measured. In addition, these ion sources provide for the easy operation in pulsed mode by the direct modulation of gate voltage.