By Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication
High-resolution Focused Ion Beam (FIB) lithography has significant advantages as a single-step, nanoscale prototyping method that requires neither mask nor resist. It is capable of: - Subtractive lithography in which atoms are locally milled away by physical sputtering with sub-10nm resolution - Additive lithography in which materials are locally deposited with sub-10nm resolution - Local ion implantation for fabrication of an etching mask for subsequent pattern transfer - Direct material modification by ion-induced mixing. FIB lithography is a very versatile technique with a wide range of applications including - Advanced materials development/characterisation, - Resist-free, high-resolution patterning of nanostructures, - Very precise, cross-sectional analysis of samples - Sample preparation for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and for atom probe analysis. MCN’s FIB tool is the FEI Helios NanoLab 600 Dual Beam FIB-SEM. It features an ultra-high resolution Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Focused Ion Beam (FIB) with various gas injection systems, including platinum deposition, selective carbon milling and metal-enhanced etching. It also has a Genesis EDX detector to analyse the atomic composition of samples as well as a STEM detector, allowing the SEM to image very thin samples in transmission. This offers a great opportunity to acquire TEM comparable images with all the advantages of the SEM. The FIB-SEM has been fitted with additional accessories - the Kleindiek Micromanipulator, which is an insertable probe that allows in-situ physical sample manipulation and characterisation at the nanoscale, and the Kleindiek Nanotechnik Lift-Out Shuttle, which provides in-situ lift-out sample preparation techniques for TEM and atom probe inspection. It features a high-resolution micro-gripper for easy transport and assembly of micro-sized objects.
