Electro-Hydro Dynamic ion sources and Focused ion Beam Machines

In this talk we will review and detail the current status of EHD ion sources, also commonly referred as Liquid Metal Ion Sources, their development perspectives and their ever present expanding applicative domains. We will review the roots of this technology born in the early 70’s, deriving from space propulsion research, when physicists applied EHD phenomena onto liquid metal meniscus to create high brightness ion sources. Since then the LMIS qualities based on a remarkable brightness, excellent emission stabilities (current emission and emitting area invariance), ease of operation, lifespan and compactness small size were at the origin of the focused ion beam (FIB).
As a deeply involved team in the pursuing quest aiming at investigating the full applied potential of the direct-write Focused Ion Beams technology since the mid-80’s, we will analyze and comment the never interrupted major effort invested around the world aiming at developing alternative ion sources. As a complement to the development of high current sources or atomic-sized emitters, we will show that high performance Liquid Metal Ion Sources and Liquid Metal Alloys Ion Sources exhibit definitive advantages at the prototyping level.
We will analyze, quantify and describe the potential gains still to be expected from the widely used gallium LMIS and other alloy ion sources, that add a large number of ion species and patterning schemes.
In conclusion we will summarize our vision on the future of FIB technology based on electro-Hydro Dynamically (EHD) driven emitters operating in the cone-jet mode, both in terms of performances, versatility and on the science frontiers these might help to push. My presentation will be an attempt to provide an overview on this FIB continuous evolution and future capabilities.