[CCoE Notice] Colloquium * September 24, 2010 * William Thompson * Carl Zeiss SMT, Peabody, MA

[Lewis, Lindsay R]

***** Colloquium *****
Center for Integrated Bio and Nano Systems
Houston Chapter of IEEE Nanotechnology Council and Houston Chapter of IEEE Magnetics Society
Friday, September 24, 2010
12:30 p.m. (Refreshments served at noon)
Room: W122 Building D3

Advances in Helium Ion Microscope
Imaging, Materials Analysis and Nanofabrication

William B. Thompson

Carl Zeiss SMT - Orion Division, Peabody, MA

The scanning helium ion microscope [1] is currently capable of 0.35 nm, long working distance, top-down image resolution. This resolution is derived from a unique high brightness ion source comprised of helium ions launched from a single atom of a metal needle. The present generation of helium ion microscope (HIM) can be operated in two main imaging modes; ion induced secondary electron (SE) mode and Rutherford backscatter imaging (RBI) mode.  Helium ion microscope SE mode images are characterized by sub-nanometer, surface sensitive resolution, achieved on both conductive and insulating samples without the need for any conductive coating. HIM SE mode images of biological, semiconductor, exotic carbon and photovoltaic materials provides information not currently observed with other imaging techniques

When used in scanning RBI mode, HIM images contain considerable material and channeling contrast. This contrast is derived from the strong dependence of the backscattered ion yield on the target atomic number and crystallography. By itself, this contrast variation can provide the user with considerable sample analytical information. To provide still greater material analysis information, a Rutherford Backscatter Spectrometer (RBS) has recently been added to the system. The RBS spectrometer has proven to be useful in thin film analysis and particle identification.

A gas injection system (GIS) was also recently added to the microscope for the users interested in ion induced deposition and etching studies. We will present results of some tungsten deposition work using the precursor tungsten hexacarbonyl W(CO)6 during which a 30 nm diameter, 6 micron high, pillar was deposited on silicon. In order to study the electrical and mechanical properties of graphene with minimal invasiveness, helium ion microscope researchers at the National University of Singapore [2] have patterned free standing 5nm single sheet graphene ribbons. In addition to sputter defined patterning, work on HIM resist exposure of hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) has made significant progress. For example, at TU Delft, Sidorkin et al [3] have written 5nm dots on a 14 nm pitch in HSQ resist.

Over the past year Gas Field Ion Source (GFIS) research [4] has investigated the feasibility of using neon as an ion species for the microscope. Using heavier inert gas ion species, like neon, with this microscope makes applications such as TEM sample prep and circuit edit much more reasonable to consider.

We will provide a brief technology review and then explore recent applications for the ultra high resolution imaging, analysis, and nanostructuring capabilities of this rapidly growing technology.

References:

[1] Bell D., Microsc. Microanal., 15 147 (2009).
[2] D. Pickard et al., APS March Meeting 2010, abstract #H21.008
[3] Sidorkin et al., JVST B 27(4), L18, 2009.
[4] J. Notte, F. Rahman, S. McVey, S. Tan, and R. Livengood, Neon Gas Field Ion Source - Stability and Lifetime EIPBN Anchorage 2010; To be published in JVST B, Dec 2010

Bio of Dr. Thompson:

Dr. Bill Thompson is currently the chief scientist for the ALIS Business unit of Carl Zeiss SMT. Previously Bill was director of engineering for the Schlumberger/NPTest Probe Systems division. He has also been R&D manager or chief scientist for Varian's ion implanter and e-beam lithography divisions, for IBT, a focused ion beam company, US product manager for JEOL's FIB and e-beam lithography systems and chief scientist for Micrion. At Micrion and as part of DARPA & Sematech contracts, Bill managed the engineering team responsible for building the first Gas Field Ion Source (GFIS) based mask repair system. Bill has a BS in physics from Dartmouth College and a PhD in experimental nuclear physics from Yale University.

Contact Prof. Dmitri Litvinov (litvinov at uh.edu) if you would like to arrange for a time to meet with Dr. Thompson.







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