A guided focused ion beam nanofabrication technique using a metal precursor

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present a novel nano-manufacturing technique for the fabrication of nano-scale systems, such as mechanical machines and printed circuits, etc. The proposed technique utilises a guided focused ion beam (FIB) through a pattern mask to a substrate where it decomposes a metal organic gas to generate a reduced outline copy of the mask, yielding the required system design. The novelty of this technique is in the ability to fabricate nano-scale systems layer-by-layer rather than atom-by-atom through the adjustment of the vertical position of the fabricated part. To demonstrate the proposed technique, a simulation model was designed and tested. The simulation results have shown that a reduction in the perimeter of the fabricated part feature can be achieved easily by adjusting its vertical position with respect to the beam focused point from a 100 to 400 times. Further investigation revealed that the growth rate is a function of a precursor flux. For example, using a titanium precursor flux below the 2 × 1010 molecules/cm2.s then sputtering is more predominant, and above that value, a net deposition will occur at a growth rate of 5.3 × 10–05 cm/s.