Rapid prototyping of nanostructured materials with a focused ion beam

State-of-the-art focused ion beam (FIB) technology combined with high-performance scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is making a big impact on nanotechnology, particularly with the ability to use either focused ions or electrons to perform advanced nanolithography. Achieving the highest standards requires an understanding of the physics and chemistry of the system as a whole, which contains ions and electrons of various energies and origins, substrates with a range of electrical and mechanical properties, and reactive gases capable of specific effects on sputtering and re-deposition. We have built up a detailed knowledge of these complex parameters and, accordingly, have developed new strategies, allowing us to generate high resolution nanolithographic structures down to a few nanometers. We compare and contrast different strategies in order to demonstrate the importance of factors such as single- or multi-pass execution as well as milling order and time-dependent considerations.