Micro- und nanostructures by local FIB ion milling

FIB irradiation with Ga⁺or other heavy ions, i.e. Ge⁺, Au⁺, rare earth-elements, allows the fabrication of surface patterned structures with defined geometrical dimensions by direct writing ion beam milling (sputtering). For example, nano-holes were milled into an AFM tip, which should act as an aperture for single ion implantation experiments. Furthermore, a lot of different thin magnetic films were patterned (locally modified or sputtered away to study magnetic properties on sub-micrometer or nanometer scale.

Fabrication of AFM cantilevers containing a nano-hole at the tip

Different configurations of FIB milled nano-holes in lithographic pre-patterned thin magnetic films.