The patterning toolbox FIB-o-mat: Exploiting the full potential of focused helium ions for nanofabrication

Victor Deinhart; Lisa-Marie Kern; Jan N Kirchhof; Sabrina Juergensen; Joris Sturm; Enno Krauss; Thorsten Feichtner; Sviatoslav Kovalchuk; Michael Schneider; Dieter Engel; Bastian Pfau; Bert Hecht; Kirill I Bolotin; Stephanie Reich; Katja Höflich

doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.25

The patterning toolbox FIB-o-mat: Exploiting the full potential of focused helium ions for nanofabrication

Beilstein J Nanotechnol. 2021 Apr 6:12:304-318. doi: 10.3762/bjnano.12.25. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Victor Deinhart^{1

2}, Lisa-Marie Kern³, Jan N Kirchhof⁴, Sabrina Juergensen⁴, Joris Sturm^{1

2}, Enno Krauss⁵, Thorsten Feichtner⁶, Sviatoslav Kovalchuk⁴, Michael Schneider³, Dieter Engel³, Bastian Pfau³, Bert Hecht⁵, Kirill I Bolotin⁴, Stephanie Reich⁴, Katja Höflich²

Affiliations

¹ Ferdinand-Braun-Institut gGmbH, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik, Gustav-Kirchhoff-Str. 4, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
² Corelab Correlative Microscopy and Spectroscopy, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie, Hahn-Meitner-Platz 1, 14109 Berlin, Germany.
³ Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy, Max-Born-Straße 2A, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
⁴ Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 14, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
⁵ Department of Experimental Physics 5, Röntgen Research Center for Complex Material Research (RCCM), Physics Institute, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany.
⁶ Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32 20133 Milano, Italy.

Abstract

Focused beams of helium ions are a powerful tool for high-fidelity machining with spatial precision below 5 nm. Achieving such a high patterning precision over large areas and for different materials in a reproducible manner, however, is not trivial. Here, we introduce the Python toolbox FIB-o-mat for automated pattern creation and optimization, providing full flexibility to accomplish demanding patterning tasks. FIB-o-mat offers high-level pattern creation, enabling high-fidelity large-area patterning and systematic variations in geometry and raster settings. It also offers low-level beam path creation, providing full control over the beam movement and including sophisticated optimization tools. Three applications showcasing the potential of He ion beam nanofabrication for two-dimensional material systems and devices using FIB-o-mat are presented.

Keywords: automated patterning; focused He ion beam; graphene; magnetic multilayers; mechanical resonator; pattern generation; plasmonic antennas; two-dimensional materials.

Grants and funding

Victor Deinhart and Katja Höflich acknowledge financial support from German Research Foundation (DFG) within the project ‘chiralFEBID’ under grant no. HO 5461/3-1 and of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the project ‘EPRoC’ under grant no. 03SF0565. Furthermore, we would like to highlight the support from the EU Cost Action CA 19140 ‘FIT4NANO’, https://www.fit4nano.eu. Authors from the Max Born Institute acknowledge financial support from the Leibniz Association via grant no. K162/2018 (OptiSPIN). Jan Kirchhof and Kirill I. Bolotin were supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under grant no. 639739 and DFG Collaborative Research Centre TRR 227. Sabrina Jürgensen and Stephanie Reich were supported by the ERC within the project DarkSERS (772108) and the Focus Area NanoScale of the Freie Universität Berlin. Thorsten Feichtner and Bert Hecht acknowledge financial support from the DFG through the Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence on Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter – ct.qmat (EXC 2147, project-id 39085490). Thorsten Feichtner additionally acknowledges financial support from the European Commission through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) individual fellowship project PoSHGOAT (project-id 837928).