Ion sources, systems and methods

• US 7,554,097 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2006
• Issued: 06/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alis Corp. (Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung)
• Original Assignee: Alis Corp. (Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung)
• Inventors: Notte, John A. IV, Hill, Raymond, Farkas, Louis S. III, Ward, Billy W., Percival, Randall G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wells; Nikita
• Application Number:
  US11/599,915
• Publication Number:
  US 20070158580A1
• Time in Patent Office: 958 Days
• Field of Search: 250/423.F, 250/423.R, 250/426, 250/492.21, 250/492.2
• US Class Current: 250/423.00F
• CPC Class Codes: B82Y 10/00 Nanotechnology for information processing, storage or transmission, e.g. quantum computing or single electron logic
• CPC Class Codes: B82Y 40/00 Manufacture or treatment of nanostructures
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/0807 Gas field ion sources [GFIS]
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/202 Movement
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/20228 Mechanical X-Y scanning
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/2566 ion
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/2623 Field-emission microscopes
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/2812 Emission microscopes
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/30438 Registration
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/3174 Etching microareas
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2237/31755 using ion beams
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 27/26 using surface ionisation, e.g. field effect ion sources, thermionic ion sources H01J27/20, H01J27/24 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/08 Ion sources; Ion guns
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/20 Means for supporting or positioning the object or the material; Means for adjusting diaphragms or lenses associated with the support
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/252 Tubes for spot-analysing by electron or ion beams; Microanalysers
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/28 with scanning beams H01J37/268, H01J37/292, H01J37/2955 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/3056 for microworking, e. g. etching of gratings or trimming of electrical components
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 37/3174 Particle-beam lithography, e.g. electron beam lithography
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 49/142 using a solid target which is not previously vapourised

Abstract

Ion sources, systems and methods are disclosed.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a gas field ion source capable of interacting with a gas to generate an ion beam that can interact with a sample to cause ions to leave the sample; and

at least one detector configured so that, during use, the at least one detector can detect the ions,

wherein the interaction of the ion beam with the sample may cause secondary electrons to leave the sample, and, when the interaction of the ion beam with the sample causes secondary electrons to leave the sample, the at least one detector can detect at least some of the ions without detecting the secondary electrons.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one detector comprises a detector selected from the group consisting of solid state detectors, scintillator detectors, prism detectors, conversion plates, and quadrupole detectors.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a device having a bias so that the device substantially passes ions having an energy above a minimum energy, the device being disposed between the sample and the at least one detector.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one detector comprises multiple detectors.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising an electronic processor electrically connected to the at least one detector so that, during use, the electronic processor can process information based on the detected ions to determine information about the sample.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the information about the sample is selected from the group consisting of topographical information about a surface of the sample, material constituent information of a surface of the sample, material constituent information about a sub-surface region of the sample, crystalline information about the sample, voltage contrast information about a surface of the sample, voltage contrast information about a sub- surface region of the sample, magnetic information about the sample, and optical information about the sample.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a device that can deflect electrons from the at least one detector.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one detector is configured to determine information about the energy of the detected ions.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one detector is configured to determine information about angles of trajectories of the detected ions.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one detector is configured to determine information about angles of trajectories of the detected ions.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the ions comprise scattered ions.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the ions comprise secondary ions.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the ions comprise secondary ions.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising a device electrically connected within the system so that, during use, the ion beam is pulsed.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising a time of flight sub-system configured so that, during use, the time of flight sub-system can measure time of flight information of the particles.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising a time of flight sub-system configured so that, during use, the time of flight sub-system can measure time of flight information of the particles.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the ion beam has a reduced etendue of 1×

10<sup>−

16</sup> cm²srV or less.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the ion beam has an etendue of 5×

10<sup>−

21</sup> cm²sr or less.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the ion beam has a reduced brightness at a surface of the sample of 5×

10⁸ A/m²srV or more.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the ion beam has a brightness at a surface of the sample of 1×

10⁹ A/cm²sr or more.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the ion beam has a spot size with a dimension of 10 nm or less at a surface of the sample.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is a gas field ion microscope.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is a helium ion microscope.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is a scanning ion microscope.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is a scanning helium ion microscope.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein the gas field ion source comprises an electrically conductive tip having a terminal shelf with 20 atoms or less.

27. A system, comprising:

a gas field ion source capable of interacting with a gas to generate an ion beam that can interact with a sample to cause neutral particles to leave the sample; and

at least one detector configured so that, during use, the at least one detector can detect the neutral particles,

wherein the interaction of the ion beam with the sample may cause secondary electrons to leave the sample, and, when the interaction of the ion beam with the sample causes secondary electrons to leave the sample, the at least one detector can detect at least some of the neutral particles without detecting the secondary electrons.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the at least one detector comprises a detector selected from the group consisting of Everhart-Thornley detectors, microchannel plate detectors, channeltron detectors, solid state detectors, phosphor detectors, conversion plates, and scintillator detectors.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein the at least one detector comprises multiple detectors.

31. The system of claim 27, further comprising an electronic processor electrically connected to the at least one detector so that, during use, the electronic processor can process information based on the detected neutral particles to determine information about the sample.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the information about the sample is selected from the group consisting of topographical information about a surface of the sample, material constituent information of a surface of the sample, material constituent information about a sub-surface region of the sample, crystalline information about the sample, voltage contrast information about a surface of the sample, voltage contrast information about a sub-surface region of the sample, magnetic information about the sample, and optical information about the sample.

33. The system of claim 27, wherein the at least one detector is configured to determine information about the energy of the detected neutral particles.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the at least one detector is configured to determine information about angles of trajectories of the detected neutral particles.

35. The system of claim 27, wherein the at least one detector is configured to determine information about angles of trajectories of the detected neutral particles.

36. The system of claim 27, wherein the neutral particles comprise primary neutral particles.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the neutral particles comprise secondary neutral particles.

38. The system of claim 27, wherein the neutral particles comprise secondary neutral particles.

39. The system of claim 27, further comprising at least one component to substantially prevent ions from reaching the at least one detector.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the at least one component is an electrostatic component.

41. The system of claim 39, further comprising at least one component to substantially prevent electrons from reaching the at least one detector.

42. The system of claim 27, further comprising at least one component to substantially prevent electrons from reaching the at least one detector.

43. The system of claim 27, further comprising a device electrically connected within the system so that, during use, the ion beam is pulsed.

44. The system of claim 43 further comprising a time of flight sub-system configured so that, during use, the time of flight sub-system can measure time of flight information of the particles.

45. The system of claim 27, further comprising a time of flight sub-system configured so that, during use, the time of flight sub-system can measure time of flight information of the particles.

46. The system of claim 27, wherein the ion beam has a reduced etendue of 1×

10<sup>−

16</sup> cm²srV or less.

47. The system of claim 27, wherein the ion beam has an etendue of 5×

10<sup>−

21</sup> cm²sr or less.

48. The system of claim 27, wherein the ion beam has a reduced brightness at a surface of the sample of 5×

10⁸ A/m²srV or more.

49. The system of claim 27, wherein the ion beam has a brightness at a surface of the sample of 1×

10⁹ A/cm²sr or more.

50. The system of claim 27, wherein the ion beam has a spot size with a dimension of 10 nm or less at a surface of the sample.

51. The system of claim 27, wherein the system is a gas field ion microscope.

52. The system of claim 27, wherein the system is a helium ion microscope.

53. The system of claim 27, wherein the system is a scanning ion microscope.

54. The system of claim 27, wherein the system is a scanning helium ion microscope.

55. The system of claim 27, wherein the gas field ion source comprises an electrically conductive tip having a terminal shelf with 20 atoms or less.

28. A system, comprising:

a gas field ion source capable of interacting with a gas to generate an ion beam that can interact with a sample to cause photons to leave the sample; and

at least one detector configured so that, during use, the detector can detect the photons,

wherein the interaction of the ion beam with the sample may cause secondary electrons to leave the sample, and, when the interaction of the ion beam with the sample causes secondary electrons to leave the sample, the at least one detector can detect at least some of the photons without detecting the secondary electrons.

56. The system of claim 28, wherein the photons are selected from the group consisting of IR photons, visible photons, UV photons and X-ray photons.

57. The system of claim 28, wherein the at least one detector comprises a detector selected from the group consisting of photomultiplier tubes, diodes, diode arrays and charge coupled devices.

58. The system of claim 28, wherein the at least one detector comprises multiple detectors.

59. The system of claim 28, further comprising an electronic processor electrically connected to the at least one detector so that, during use, the electronic processor can process information based on the detected photons to determine information about the sample.

60. The system of claim 59, wherein the information about the sample is selected from the group consisting of topographical information about a surface of the sample, material constituent information of a surface of the sample, material constituent information about a sub-surface region of the sample, crystalline information about the sample, voltage contrast information about a surface of the sample, voltage contrast information about a sub- surface region of the sample, magnetic information about the sample, and optical information about the sample.

61. The system of claim 28, wherein the at least one detector is configured to determine information about the energy of the detected photons, the wavelength of the detected photons or both.

62. The system of claim 28, further comprising a filter configured to substantially block photons having a predetermined wavelength.

63. The system of claim 62, further comprising a filter configured to substantially block photons having a predetermined polarization.

64. The system of claim 28, further comprising a filter configured to block photons having a predetermined polarization.

65. The system of claim 28, further comprising a device electrically connected within the system so that, during use, the ion beam is pulsed.

66. The system of claim 65, wherein the at least one detector is configured to detect photons based on the pulses of the ion beam.

67. The system of claim 28, further comprising at least one optical element.

68. The system of claim 67, wherein the optical elements are selected from the group consisting of mirrors and lenses.

69. The system of claim 67, wherein the at least one optical element is configured to increase a solid angle of detection.

70. The system of claim 67, wherein the optical elements are capable of spectrally resolving the detected photons.

71. The system of claim 70, wherein the optical elements are selected from the group consisting of gratings and prisms.

72. The system of claim 28, further comprising a polarizer configured to determine polarization information about the detected photons.

73. The system of claim 28, wherein the ion beam has a reduced etendue of 1×

10<sup>−

16</sup> cm²srV or less.

74. The system of claim 28, wherein the ion beam has an etendue of 5×

10<sup>−

21</sup> cm²sr or less.

75. The system of claim 28, wherein the ion beam has a reduced brightness at a surface of the sample of 5×

10⁸ A/m²srV or more.

76. The system of claim 28, wherein the ion beam has a brightness at a surface of the sample of 1×

10⁹ A/cm²sr or more.

77. The system of claim 28, wherein the ion beam has a spot size with a dimension of 10 nm or less at a surface of the sample.

78. The system of claim 28, wherein the system is a gas field ion microscope.

79. The system of claim 28, wherein the system is a helium ion microscope.

80. The system of claim 28, wherein the system is a scanning ion microscope.

81. The system of claim 28, wherein the system is a scanning helium ion microscope.

82. The system of claim 28, wherein the gas field ion source comprises an electrically conductive tip having a terminal shelf with 20 atoms or less.