Applications of the Helium Ion Microscope

Scipioni, Larry; Stern, Lewis; Notte, John

doi:10.1017/s1551929500061897

Cited by 42 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Compared to scanning electron microscopy, HIM has the advantage of a smaller interaction volume in the substrate and a predominance of type-1 secondary electron emission (SE 1 ) [10][11][12][13][14][15]. A helium ion microscope can also be used for nanofabrication.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanopillar growth by focused helium ion-beam-induced deposition

Chen

Veldhoven²,

Sanford

et al. 2010

Nanotechnology

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A 25 keV focused helium ion beam has been used to grow PtC nanopillars on a silicon substrate by beam-induced decomposition of a (CH 3 ) 3 Pt(C P CH 3 ) precursor gas. The ion beam diameter was about 1 nm. The observed relatively high growth rates suggest that electronic excitation is the dominant mechanism in helium ion-beam-induced deposition. Pillars grown at low beam currents are narrow and have sharp tips. For a constant dose, the pillar height decreases with increasing current, pointing to depletion of precursor molecules at the beam impact site. Furthermore, the diameter increases rapidly and the total pillar volume decreases slowly with increasing current.Monte Carlo simulations have been performed with realistic values for the fundamental deposition processes. The simulation results are in good agreement with experimental observations. In particular, they reproduce the current dependences of the vertical and lateral growth rates and of the volumetric deposition efficiency. Furthermore, the simulations reveal that the vertical pillar growth is due to type-1 secondary electrons and primary ions, while the lateral outgrowth is due to type-2 secondary electrons and scattered ions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanopillar growth by focused helium ion-beam-induced deposition

Chen

Veldhoven²,

Sanford

et al. 2010

Nanotechnology

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“…The function and operation of the HeIM have been documented elsewhere (Postek et al 2007;Scipioni et al 2007;Ward et al 2006Ward et al , 2007 and are not the subject of this study. For many applications, the HeIM has advantages over both the traditional scanning electron microscope (SEM) and existing focused ion beam microscopes that use gallium (Ga) ions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Helium ion microscopy and its application to nanotechnology and nanometrology

Postek

Vladár

2008

Scanning

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Summary: Helium ion microscopy (HeIM) presents a new approach to nanotechnology and nanometrology, which has several potential advantages over the traditional scanning electron microscope (SEM) currently in use in research laboratories and manufacturing facilities across the world. Owing to the very high source brightness, and the shorter wavelength of the helium (He) ions, it is theoretically possible to focus the ion beam into a smaller probe size relative to that of the electron beam of an SEM. Hence, resolution 2 Â -4 Â better than that of comparable SEMs is theoretically possible. In an SEM, an electron beam interacts with the sample and an array of signals are generated, collected and imaged. This interaction zone may be quite large depending upon the accelerating voltage and materials involved. Conversely, the helium ion beam interacts with the sample, but it does not have as large an excitation volume and, thus, the image collected is more surface sensitive and can potentially provide sharp images on a wide range of materials. Compared with an SEM, the secondary electron yield is quite high-allowing for imaging at extremely low beam currents and the relatively low mass of the helium ion, in contrast to other ion sources such as gallium, potentially results in minimal damage to the sample. This article reports on some of the preliminary work being done on the HeIM as a research and measurement tool for nanotechnology and nanometrology being done at NIST. SCANNING 30: 457-462,

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“…3,46,47,48,49,50 For this application, the ion beam is used in much the same way as an electron beam is used in a SEM: a focused beam is rastered across the sample while backscattered particles are detected in synchrony with the scan to form an image.…”

Section: Applications Of Focused Ion Beamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Today’s sources do not typically provide quite the resolution attainable with a good field emission SEM, and the best resolution is attained only at high beam energies of several tens of kiloelectronvolts. Furthermore, only a few ionic species, in particular Ga 46,47,48 and He, 3,49,50 have been implemented with microscopy as the primary application. Having a wider choice of beam energies and ionic species would certainly allow ion microscopy to reach a much broader range of applications.…”

Section: Applications Of Focused Ion Beamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bright focused ion beam sources based on laser-cooled atoms

McClelland

Steele

Knuffman

et al. 2016

Applied Physics Reviews

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Nanoscale focused ion beams (FIBs) represent one of the most useful tools in nanotechnology, enabling nanofabrication via milling and gas-assisted deposition, microscopy and microanalysis, and selective, spatially resolved doping of materials. Recently, a new type of FIB source has emerged, which uses ionization of laser cooled neutral atoms to produce the ion beam. The extremely cold temperatures attainable with laser cooling (in the range of 100 μK or below) result in a beam of ions with a very small transverse velocity distribution. This corresponds to a source with extremely high brightness that rivals or may even exceed the brightness of the industry standard Ga+ liquid metal ion source. In this review we discuss the context of ion beam technology in which these new ion sources can play a role, their principles of operation, and some examples of recent demonstrations. The field is relatively new, so only a few applications have been demonstrated, most notably low energy ion microscopy with Li ions. Nevertheless, a number of promising new approaches have been proposed and/or demonstrated, suggesting that a rapid evolution of this type of source is likely in the near future.

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Applications of the Helium Ion Microscope

Cited by 42 publications

References 4 publications

Nanopillar growth by focused helium ion-beam-induced deposition

Nanopillar growth by focused helium ion-beam-induced deposition

Helium ion microscopy and its application to nanotechnology and nanometrology

Bright focused ion beam sources based on laser-cooled atoms

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