Many modern microelectronic chips contain embedded memory arrays. A typical memory bit-cell contains several transistors. Failure of a single transistor or contact within a bit cell makes the entire bit cell inoperable. A dual-beam Focused Ion Beam (FIB) tool combines milling capability with in situ Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) imaging, which is very useful for identifying the root cause ...

A status report on optical negative-index-metamaterial fabrication is given. The advantages, drawbacks and challenges of different fabrication techniques including electron-beam lithography (EBL), focused-ion beam (FIB) milling, interference lithography (IL) and nanoimprint lithography (NIL) and direct laser writing are outlined. Since the possibility of creating a truly three-dimensional (3D) ...

Focused ion beams (FIBs) are an invaluable tool for the creation and observation of materials with nanoscale feature sizes, providing key capabilities in integrated circuit sectioning, critical dimension measurement, and circuit repair. However, ion sources capable of both high brightness and low emittance operation are difficult to realize, with practical sources limited to very few atomic spe...

The separation of biomolecules and other nanoparticles is a vital step in several analytical and diagnostic techniques. Towards this end we present a solid state nanopore-based set-up as an efficient separation platform. The translocation of charged particles through a nanopore was first modeled mathematically using the multi-ion model and the surface charge density of the nanopore membrane was...

The mechanical behaviors of microstructures and micro-devices have drawn the attention from researchers on materials and mechanics in recent years. To understand the rule of these behaviors, the deformation measurement techniques with micro/nanometer sensitivity and spatial resolution are required. In this paper, a micro-marker identification method is developed to measure microstructure deform...

Focused ion beam (FIB) milling can be used as a tool to fabricate structures with sub-micrometer details. The slab material can be silicon, for example, which can then be used as a mould for nano-imprint lithography, or in silicon on insulator (SOI) layer configuration suitable for photonic applications. In the latter, additional effort has to be taken to prevent high FIB induced losses, due to...

In this study, the effects of dwell time on Ga focused ion beam machining at 30 keV for different milling currents were investigated. The surface topographies were analysed using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and the substrate structures were investigated by means of Raman spectroscopy. It has been observed that by increasing dwell time the total sputtering yield was increased even though the t...

The development of nanoscale devices requires rapid prototyping methods that can be applied in combination with well-known clean room processing techniques. We show that focused ion beam (FIB) Ga-ion implantation can be used for creating masks for the fabrication of silicon nanostructures by IC-compatible, anisotropic tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) wet etching. The FIB writing modifies on...