Liquid Metal Alloy Ion Sources for FIB Applications in Nano – Technology

Focused Ion Beam (FIB) processing has been established as a well-suited and promising technique in R&D in nearly all fields of nanotechnology for patterning and prototyping on the μm-scale and below. Liquid Metal Alloy Ion Sources (LMAIS) represent an alternative to expand the FIB application fields beside all other source concepts. Here we present in the frame of two industrial related projects (ZIM) the development of different special LMAIS for FIB applications in nano–technology. So among others the alloys CoNd, CoNdB, AuGeB, AuGeBNi, AuSiCr, GaBiLi, CoDy, CuDy and AuSiDy are investigated and tested with regard to their use in modern mass separated FIB systems due to mass resolution, ion beam current of the certain ion species and the available spot size. The light ions like B, Li or Si dedicated for ion beam lithography systems. The transition metal elements Co, Fe and Ni are important for the modification and the adjustment of magnetic properties of nanomagnetic structures, presented in detail with a Co – FIB on a permalloy nanowire. Rare earth elements, especially Dy can tune the magnetic damping in nanometric dimensions. The latter is shown on magnonic stripe pattern of one mm² in size on a thin permalloy film made by a VELION FIB.