Devices and structures made on a nanoscale now have a number of real world applications and the potential for further development and uptake is still growing. However, converting the latest ideas and designs into something real for research, testing and prototyping can pose a significant technical and financial barrier. Using finely focused particle beams along with state-of-the-art patterning engines and precision stages integrated into FEI's latest focused ion beam (FIB), scanning electron microscopes (SEM) and DualBeams (combined FIB and SEM) offer an efficient way of turning nanoscale designs into reality.
FEI's DualBeam™ focused ion beam and scanning electron microscope (FIB SEM) instruments offer beam/gas chemistries, software automation, digital pattern generation and simultaneous patterning and imaging that allow rapid creation or modification of 3D structures and prototyping of devices at the nanoscale.
FIB milling and electron and ion beam-induced deposition can be used separately or in combination to fabricate complex structures such as quantum dot and photonic arrays, nanofluidic devices, chemical cells and nanopiezo sensors, as well as for performing photolithographic mask writing and repair, made possible with FEI's robust suite of tools for direct electron and ion beam lithography. Software provides accurate control over patterning, milling and deposition parameters. In situ deposition of electrical nanocontacts can be combined with electrical probing for direct measurement of functional properties. Surfaces can be nano-textured over large areas and detailed 3D topography can be produced.
NanoPrototyping in Action
The following movies show the ability to pattern (both deposit and mill) on a nanoscale and demonstrate the Dualbeam's capability to image live with the electron beam and resolve a nanoscale process that is being undertaken by the ion beam. These movies not only show that imaging while milling is possible (as it has actually always been with all of FEI's DualBeams) but that the imaging resolution in this mode is excellent and better than any available on the market today.
Milling of Silicon - Low Magnification
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 This movie shows the live milling into a silicon substrate of a 3-dimensional dumbbell shape which has been automatically converted by the DualBeam into a milling file from a purely grey-level image. It can clearly be seen that the ion beam is indeed milling the exact shape portrayed in the image above. As the milling continues the 3-dimensional bowl shape on the left hand side of the pattern, corresponding to the bright area in the bitmap image becomes more obvious. This is because the amount of time the ion beam dwells on any one point in the pattern is directly related the grey-level in the image so that brighter points are milled more and become deeper than darker points.
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Milling of Silicon - High Magnification
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This movie also shows the live milling into a silicon substrate of a 3-dimensional dumbbell shape which has been automatically converted by the DualBeam into a milling file from a purely grey-level image. However, this higher magnification movie shows the 3D milling even more clearly. Therefore, the capability of the DualBeam to automatically import and convert a bitmap image to a milling pattern provides a very easy way to quickly produce a 3-dimensional shape on a truly nanoscale.
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Three Dimensional Nanoscale Deposition of Platinum
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This movie shows the creation of 3-dimensional nanoscale depositions of platinum using the ion beam to produce two nano-springs. It shows that intricate 3D depositions can be made rather than just a block depositions on a surface. These complex 3D nano-deposits can be usedfor electrically (or mechanically) contacting structures on different levels while leaving intermediate levels intentionally isolated. To show these are 3D springs the electron beam zooms out and the stage tilt is changed to show that the springs really are standing freely in 3D.
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FEI Instruments for 3D NanoPrototyping:
Applications for Materials Science: