Micromachining using a focused ion beam miller

Full text: The focused ion beam (FIB) miller is becoming well established as a machine for the structural analysis of materials and for the rapid preparation of transmission electron microscope specimens. It has also been used for some time in the semiconducting materials industry for the analysis, repair and redesign of device materials. However, one emerging technique is the use of the FIB for micromachining. The FIB software can also be used to manufacture and machine components. This process can occur through converting software, typically in the form of bitmaps or TIF files, to proprietary 'stream' files. These files allow, often complex, patterns to be generated and milled into the specimen and thus the generation of micro-electromechanical systems. Frequently, this involves largely two-dimensional patterns and structures, however, more complex patterns and file types can be generated which allow, for example, device prototyping or the preparation of three-dimensional structures such as atom probe field ion microscope (APFIM) specimens. In this presentation the protocols for creating and using these files will be described together with examples of the patterns and its application to micromachining, device prototyping and APFIM specimens. Copyright (2002) Australian Society for Electron Microscopy Inc