Cold atomic beam ion source for focused ion beam applications

High-brightness Cs focused ion beam from a cold-atomic-beam ion source

We present measurements of focal spot size and brightness in a focused ion beam system utilizing a laser-cooled atomic beam source of Cs ions. Spot sizes as small as (2.1 ± 0.2) nm (one standard deviation) and reduced brightness values as high as (2.4 ± 0.1) × 107 A m-2 Sr-1 eV-1 are observed with a 10 keV beam. This measured brightness is over 24 times higher than the highest brightness observ...

Focused Ion Beam Lithography

Focused Ion Beam Nano-structuring for Applications in Photonics

To date, nano-and micro-structuring has commonly been implemented by a combination of specifically optimized processes of electron-beam lithography and reactive ion etching, thus limiting the range of materials that can be structured to only a few. In this talk we will introduce focused ion beam (FIB) milling as an emerging technology that enables fast, reliable and well-controlled nanometer-si...

High brightness inductively coupled plasma source for high current focused ion beam applications

A high brightness plasma ion source has been developed to address focused ion beam !FIB" applications not satisfied by the liquid metal ion source !LMIS" based FIB. The plasma FIB described here is capable of satisfying applications requiring high mill rates !!100 "m3/s" with non-gallium ions and has demonstrated imaging capabilities with sub100-nm resolution. The virtual source size, angular i...

Focused Ion Beam Microscopy and Micromachining

The FIB Instrument The basic functions of the FIB, namely, imaging and sputtering with an ion beam, require a highly focused beam. A consistent tenet of any focused beam is that the smaller the effective source size, the more current that can be focused to a point. Unlike the broad ion beams generated from plasma sources, high-resolution ion beams are defined by the use of a field ionization so...