Advances in helium ion microscopy

To see or not to see: Imaging surfactant coated nano-particles using HIM and SEM

“…The small escape depth of secondary electrons (SE) generated by swift ions [21] results in the superior surface sensitivity and resolution [13] of the HIM SE image. This fact allows the detailed imaging of even very thin carbon layers, such as the CTAB layer in the present study.…”

“…Alternatively, a new charged particle scanning beam microscopy method has entered the market a few years ago. Helium Ion Microscopy (HIM) [12] has an ultimate resolution as small as 0.29 nm [11,13] and a very high surface sensitivity [14]. It uses helium ions to generate a multitude of signals including secondary electrons (SE), backscattered helium (BSHe) and photons.…”

Material characterization and modification using helium lon microscopy : various examples

“…Ward and co-workers enabled the establishment of helium ion microscopy (HIM) in 2006 [15]. HIM was quickly recognized as an outstanding microscopy technique mainly due to its sub-nanometer resolution [16].…”

“…An aperture can be placed in the beam path to restrict the emission current to one of the three atoms. Additionally, the short Table 2.1: Typical helium ion sources parameters [16] De Broglie wavelength of the helium ions leads to a reduction of the influence of diffraction effects. Thus, the He + beam can be projected on the sample into a sub-nanometer size spot [26].…”

“…The helium ion microscope allows the projection of a He + beam of several tens of keV with a diameter of 0.4 nm [16] onto a sample. This makes HIM an attractive tool for surface patterning and nanofabrication [67][68][69][70][71].…”