| AVS 66th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Advanced Ion Microscopy and Ion Beam Nano-engineering Focus Topic | Thursday Sessions |
| Session HI+NS-ThA |
| Session: | Emerging Ion Sources, Optics, and Applications |
| Presenter: | Gregory Schwind, Thermo Fisher Scientific |
| Authors: | G.A. Schwind, Thermo Fisher Scientific S.M. Kellogg, Thermo Fisher Scientific J. Stiller, Thermo Fisher Scientific M. Doud, Thermo Fisher Scientific C. Rue, Thermo Fisher Scientific B. Van Leer, Thermo Fisher Scientific |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
The focused ion beam (FIB) has become an indispensable tool for micro- and nano-machining applications. Due to its high brightness and ease of use, the gallium liquid metal ion source (LMIS) has been the source of choice over much of the nearly four decades of FIB history. At the beginning of this decade, a new generation FIB system based on the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) ion source was brought to market, offering beam current and throughput 20 times greater than LMIS-based systems. A next generation plasma source has been developed [1], offering the option to change the ion beam species by switching the feed gas supplied to the plasma source. The ability to dynamically change ion species—for example from a noble gas such as argon to an electronegative species such as oxygen—creates new design challenges for the source, the FIB optical subsystem, and the platform as a whole. Both empirical measurements and numerical simulations were used to better understand the species-specific performance of the source design. Results show that the emission properties depend on both the ion species and the plasma density, which lead to orienting the system design around specific modes of operation optimally suited to each species, FIB current and landing energy [2].
Several new and exciting application areas are enabled by the ability to switch FIB ion species dynamically. Ion-surface interactions such as sputtering, implantation, and the creation of an amorphous damage layer depend on the ion’s momentum [3], which in turn depends on ion mass. Furthermore, chemical reactivity between the incoming ion and the target surface seems to play a role in the surface modification process in some instances. Several FIB application examples illustrating these interdependencies will be shown.
[1] Sergey Gorelick and Alex De Marco, "Fabrication of glass microlenses using focused Xe beam," Opt. Express 26, 13647-13655 (2018)
[2] United States patent 8,253,118
[3] Jon Orloff, Mark Utlaut, and Lynwood Swanson, High Resolution Focused Ion Beams, Kluwer/Plenum: New York, (2003)