Fabrication of a free standing resolution standard for focusing MeV ion beams to sub 30 nm dimensions

Abstract

With recent advances in nuclear microscopy, proton beam writing and the recent development of MeV ion nano probe facilities it is becoming increasingly important to have resolution standards with a high degree of side wall verticality. We present here a way of producing a high quality free standing resolution standards which can be used for high beam current applications like Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS), particle induced X-ray emissions (PIXE), and low beam current applications such as secondary electron emission, scanning transmission ion microscopy (STIM) and ion beam induced current (IBIC). These standards allow rapid focusing of MeV ion beams for high resolution nuclear microscopy applications as well as proton beam writing, where knowledge of the exact beam size is vital to guarantee reproducibility in writing nanostructures. This new standard has been used to measure a one-dimensional beam profile with 1 MeV protons and gave a FWHM of 29.2 nm which is the smallest value reported for MeV protons in STIM mode. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.