Patterning and Nanofabrication

As seen above, ion beams can rapidly remove material from a specimen placed in the HIM. Depending on the proposed application, this could then be considered either as damage—and so be undesirable—or as a unique tool to pattern material. The use of Ga+ beams for thinning or cross sectioning materials prior to examination in a transmission electron microscope is well known and in widespread use. As noted earlier, less known is the fact that light ions such as He+ can also remove material from a surface, although at a much reduced rate, providing a method to shape, mark, and pattern materials on nanoscale.