Ion beam milling has become a widespread specimen preparation technique for non-biological materials over the last two decades, particularly for cross-sectional and plan-view transmission electron microscope (TEM) specimens. The basic principle of ion milling involves bombarding a specimen with energetic ions or neutral atoms acclerated and formed into a tightly focused ion beam. Material is sp...

The effects of H2O vapor introduced during focused ion beam ~FIB! milling of diamond~100! are examined. In particular, we determine the yield, surface morphology, and microstructural damage that results from FIB sputtering and H2O-assisted FIB milling processes. Experiments involving 20 keV Ga bombardment to doses ;10 ions/cm are conducted at a number of fixed ion incidence angles, u. For each ...

The effect of the nano-scale lateral milling process using a focused ion beam (FIB) was studied in order to prepare a flat and smooth surface suitable for the growth of optical device structures such as a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) mirror on a rough gallium nitride (GaN) surface. A high-quality, smooth, and flat surface is very essential for high precision space optics. It was fabricated...

Recent advances in focused ion beam technology have enabled high-resolution, maskless nanofabrication using light ions. Studies with light ions to date have, however, focused on milling of materials where sub-surface ion beam damage does not inhibit device performance. Here we report on maskless milling of single crystal diamond using a focused beam of oxygen ions. Material quality is assessed ...

Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) sample preparation of ZnSe/GaAs epitaxial films is investigated. Conventional argon ion milling is shown to produce a high density (approximately 5-8 x 10(11)/cm2) of small (diameter approximately 60-80 A) extended defects (stacking faults, microtwins, double positioning twins, etc.). In addition, transmission electron diffraction results i...

The low-energy Ar-ion milling method was used to prepare ultrathin specimens for transmission electron microscope observation. The samples were thinned initially by a usual focused ion beam technique or typical Ar-ion milling with a high energy of 2-10 keV and were thinned additionally by an Ar-ion beam with an energy less than 1 keV, typically 500-900 eV. This low-energy ion beam was scanned o...

We have fabricated sub-micron intrinsic Josephson junctions in thin films of Tl-Ba-Ca-Cu-O using two differing techniques suited to different applications. By using lateral focussed ion-beam milling we have created arrays of intrinsic junctions in -axis oriented films. Such arrays, with areas as low as 0.25 m, display large hysteresis comparable to that observed in single-crystal intrinsic junc...

The optical properties of plasmonic semiconductor devices fabricated by focused ion beam (FIB) milling deteriorate because of the amorphisation of the semiconductor substrate. This study explores the effects of combining traditional 30 kV FIB milling with 5 kV FIB patterning to minimise the semiconductor damage and at the same time maintain high spatial resolution. The use of reduced accelerati...

We have researched several new focused ion beam (FIB) micro-fabrication techniques that offer control of feature shape and the ability to accurately define features onto nonplanar substrates. These FIB-based processes are considered useful for prototyping, reverse engineering, and small-lot manufacturing. Ion beam-based techniques have been developed for defining features in miniature, nonplana...

Inversion in conductivity type of GaSb from pto nhas been observed as a result of argon ion beam milling. Electron beam induced current ~EBIC! measurements have been employed for detecting the type conversion. Enhancement in the luminescence intensity is seen after ion beam treatment. The type conversion is proposed to occur due to a combined effect of generation of native donors and gettering ...