title: Direct fabrication of nanopores in a metal foil using focused ion beam with in situ measurements of the penetrating ion beam current.
abstract: A through hole with a diameter less than 100 nm was fabricated in an Ag foil using only a focused ion beam (FIB) system and in situ measurements of the penetrating ion beam. During the drilling of the foil by a FIB of Ga(+) ions, the transmitted part of the beam was measured with an electrode mounted on the back face of the foil. When the beam current penetrating through the nanopore reached a certain value, irradiation was stopped and the area of the created aperture was measured with a scanning electron microscope. The resulting area was correlated with the current of the penetrating ion beam. This suggests that we can fabricate a nanopore of the desired size by controlling the ion beam via penetrating ion beam measurements. The smallest aperture thus created was circular with diameter of 30 nm.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Advanced Sciences of Matter, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8530, Japan.
authors.forename: Kotaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nagoshi
authors.forename: Junki
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Honda
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sakaue
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takahagi
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suzuki
mesh_terms: D004566:Electrodes; D005708:Gallium; D007477:Ions; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D016062:Porosity; D012834:Silver
chemical_list: D007477:Ions; D012834:Silver; D005708:Gallium