Focused ion Beam system installed; Industrial Partnership Programme with FEI

In 2006 AMOLF won an 'NWO-Large' Investment Subsidy for the purchase of a Focused Ion Beam (FIB) system. With the aid of a 30 keV Ga ion beam focused to a spot with a diameter of 7 nm, this system can etch material, thus making it possible to structure materials on a nanoscale. Thanks to a scanning electron microscope integrated into the FIB apparatus, this process can be studied 'live'. The apparatus, from the FEI Company, was ordered at the end of September 2007 and was already installed and operational six weeks later.

At the same time AMOLF acquired funding for research in the field of  plasmonoptics and photonic crystals within an Industrial Partnership Programme that FOM entered into earlier this year with FEI. This programme, 'Microscopy and modification of nanostructures with focused electron and ion beams', is a partnership between AMOLF and the Technical Universities of Delft and Eindhoven under the direction of AMOLF alumnus Prof. dr. ir. Pieter Kruit (TUD). At AMOLF the groups led by Kuipers, Vos and Polman will research how focused ion beam milling can be employed to make nanostructures that are interesting for optical applications, what the technical and physical limits of the focused ion beam technology are, and how the technology can be further improved.

The new dual-beam focused ion beam systeem