Limits on imaging resolution of focused ion-beam systems

Jon Orloff

doi:10.1117/12.221599

25 September 1995 Limits on imaging resolution of focused ion-beam systems

Jon Orloff

Proceedings Volume 2522, Electron-Beam Sources and Charged-Particle Optics; (1995) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.221599
Event: SPIE's 1995 International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1995, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

Focused ion beam systems are capable of very high performance in terms of both beam size and the current density focused on a specimen. Sub-10 nanometer beam size is now routinely obtained with current densities of 1 - 10 A cm^-2. The limitations on beam size include beam space charge interactions (radial broadening) as well as the usual source size and system optical aberrations. In addition to these effects the imaging resolution is affected by the signal-to-noise ratio of the ion beam, secondary electron generation and system electronics. Therefore, when calculating imaging resolution it is necessary to take into account the fact that the ion beam is a destructive probe and sputters away the target as it generates information about it. Because imaging resolution depends in a fundamental way on the system signal-to- noise there is a limit on the size of the detail that can be resolved: the beam can destroy an object before an adequate signal from it can be detected. Thus sputtering of the target determines a fundamental limit on the imaging resolution (but not beam size) of a focused ion beam system.

Citation Download Citation

Jon Orloff "Limits on imaging resolution of focused ion-beam systems", Proc. SPIE 2522, Electron-Beam Sources and Charged-Particle Optics, (25 September 1995); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.221599

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