Focused ion beam technology: A single tool for a wide range of applications

Processing products on the nanoscale, producing models for microelectronics or examining biological samples: The variety of applications for carefully focused ion beams is substantial. Professionals from the EU partnership FIT4NANO have actually now evaluated the lots of alternatives and established a roadmap for the future.

The post, released in Applied Physics Reviewsis targeted at trainees, users from market and science along with research study policy makers.

“We recognized that focused ion beams can be utilized in several methods, and we believed we had an excellent summary at the start of the job. Then we found that there are lots of more applications than we believed. In lots of publications, using concentrated ion beams is not even clearly pointed out, however is concealed in the approaches area,” states Dr. Katja Höflich, physicist at the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), who collaborated the thorough report.

“It was investigator work. In specific, we discovered work from the 1960s and 1970s that led its time and unjustly forgotten. Even today, they still offer crucial insights.”

The report offers an introduction of the present state of concentrated ion beam (FIB) innovation, its applications with lots of examples, the most essential devices advancements and future potential customers.

“We wished to offer a recommendation work that works for scholastic research study and commercial R&D departments, however likewise assists research study management to discover their method this field,” states Dr. Gregor Hlawacek, group leader at the Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR). Hlawacek leads the FIT4NANO task, an EU task on FIB innovations, in which the authors of the report are included.

From fundamental research study to the completed element

FIB instruments utilize a concentrated ion beam of normally 2 to 30 kiloelectronvolts (keV). With its little size in the nanometer and sub-nanometer variety, such an ion beam scans the sample and can alter its surface area with nanometer accuracy. FIB instruments are a universal tool for analysis, maskless regional product adjustment and quick prototyping of microelectronic parts. The very first FIB instruments were utilized in the semiconductor market to remedy photomasks with concentrated gallium ions. Today, FIB instruments are readily available with various kinds of ions.

An essential application is the preparation of samples for high-resolution, nanometer-precision imaging in the electron microscopic lense. FIB approaches have actually likewise been utilized in the life sciences, for instance to examine and image micro-organisms and infections with FIB-based tomography, offering deep insights into tiny structures and their function.

FIB instruments are continuously progressing towards other energies, much heavier ions and brand-new abilities, such as the spatially fixed generation of single atomic flaws in otherwise best crystals. Such FIB processing of products and parts has huge capacity in quantum and infotech. The series of applications, from basic research study to the completed gadget, from physics, products science and chemistry to life sciences and even archaeology, is definitely distinct.

“We hope that this roadmap will influence clinical and technological advancements and serve as an incubator for future advancements,” states Gregor Hlawacek.