Development Of Liquid Metal Ion Source For Nanometer Focused Ion Beam System

Focused Ion Beam is an advanced micro/nano technology for figure observation, orientationmaking-sample, component analysis, film deposition and mask-less etching. It has improvedprecision and speed of material, technique, component's analysis and repair in microelectronicsindustry greatly. So it has become a pivotal technology in the field of microelectronics technologyand provides a new method for every field of processing and fabricating semiconductorcomponents. Successful development of liquid metal ion source offers a small dimension, highbrightness and high stability focused ion source part for Focused Ion Beam apparatus, which makethe development of focused ion beam technology quicker.In this paper, the history and developmental actuality of focused ion beam and liquid metalion source are introduced firstly. Secondly, emitting theory of liquid metal ion source is introduced. Thirdly, we introduce the design of source parts, the eroding technology of emitting needle, thetechnology of wetted needle well with liquid Ga metal and the design of analysis system of DL-01liquid metal ion source designed by ourselves, heating electrical source and high-voltage source.Then the I-V emitting curve and other performance of the source are measured. The curves showthat the test results conform to the requirement of the design. At the same time, the reasons thatinfluence the performance of the source are analyzed. Finally, the characteristics of the source aresimulated and the conclusion that the characteristics of LMIS intimately related to the shape andsize of the emitter tip is drawn. Thus, the revelation to design the emitting system of LMISeffectively is offered.