3D Volumetric Energy Deposition of Focused Helium Ion Beam Lithography: Visualization, Modeling, and Applications in Nanofabrication

Jingxuan Cai, Zhouyang Zhu, Paul F.A. Alkemade, Emile van Veldhoven, Qianjin Wang, Haixiong Ge, Sean P. Rodrigues, Wenshan Cai*, Wen Di Li

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

23 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this paper, 3D volumetric energy deposition and local crosslinking of hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) are experimentally and numerically explored in focused helium ion beam lithography (HIBL). In particular, a through-membrane exposure method is developed to make visible and subsequently to measure the 3D interaction volume and energy deposition of helium ions in HSQ. By comparing the actual dimensions of the crosslinked HSQ structures with Monte Carlo modeling of the spatial distribution of the energy deposition, the critical energy density for crosslinking HSQ is obtained. Finally, 3D nanofabrication of complex crosslinked HSQ nanostructures such as embedded nanochannels and suspended grids is demonstrated using two different exposure configurations. The proposed method expands the 2D point spread function of HIBL into three dimensions, thus opening a new avenue for nanoscale 3D fabrication.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1800203
Number of pages8
JournalAdvanced Materials Interfaces
Volume5
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Jun 2018

Keywords

  • 3D nanofabrication
  • focused helium ion beam lithography
  • hydrogen silsesquioxane
  • localized volumetric energy deposition

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