Ion microscopy using helium or neon beams created from a gas field ion source (GFIS) shows great potential and flexibility for many imaging and nanofabrication applications. With helium or neon, sub-10 nm structures can be routinely fabricated in a variety of materials including sensitive materials such as graphene. Additionally, the beam-sample interaction dynamics of helium/neon ion beams offer unique contrast and stunning surface detail at sub 0.5nm lateral resolution.

The helium ion beam introduces a unique opportunity for high precision patterning in graphene.   High aspect ratio nanoribbons have been machined down to 5 nm without damage.  Due to the nature of imaging with the helium ions, non-destructive imaging of graphene with excellent surface sensitivity can be achieved both before and after patterning.    Helium and neon beams have also been used for a diverse range of other nanofabrication applications.  Solid state nanopores for DNA sequencing devices with holes down to 3 nm in diameter and aspect ratios greater than 10:1 have been created in a variety of materials.   In plasmonic applications, dislocation damage to surrounding structural elements is greatly reduced compared to gallium FIB when using helium or neon, thus allowing work on delicate and sensitive membranous materials. Plasmonic devices with nearly vertical sidewalls have been patterned in films demonstrating machining precision of better than 5 nm.   Direct write lithography using commercial resists HSQ and PMMA resulted in line features as narrow as 4 nm.  Finally, the use of helium and neon ions beams for circuit edit applications is being developed. Deposition of conducting and insulating materials creates features smaller than those obtained with gallium FIB and with better electrical properties due to the absence of gallium.

A gallery of helium ion microscopy imaging and nanofabrication results will be presented to showcase the capability and performance of this novel microscope.  

1. PRESENTATION: Applications of Helium and Neon Ion Microscopy; from Imaging Shale Rock to Machining Graphene, PDF document, version 1.5, 4.6MB

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