Liquid metal alloy ion sources An alternative for focussed ion beam technology
Today, Focused Ion Beam (FIB) processing is nearly exclusively based on gallium Liquid Metal Ion Sources (LMIS) But, many applications in the mm or nm range could benefit from ion species other than gallium: local ion implantation, ion beam mixing, ion beam synthesis, or Focused Ion Beam Lithography (IBL) Therefore, Liquid Metal Alloy Ion Sources (LMAIS) represent a promising alternative to expand the remarkable application fields for FIB. Especially, the IBL process shows potential advantages over, e.g. electron beam or other lithography techniques: direct, resistless, and three dimensional patterning, enabling a simultaneous in situ process control by cross sectioning and inspection. Taking additionally into account that the used ion species influences significantly the physical and chemical nature of the resulting nanostructures in particular, the electrical, optical, magnetic, and mechanic properties leading to a large potential application area which can be tuned by choosing a well suited LMAIS.