These instruments are installed within a purpose built laboratory, with the HIM installed in a clean-room with atmospheric control and vibration isolation.
Co-located with our XPS facilities means we can provide a unique and powerful combination of nanometrology. This enables detailed characterisation of structures and devices produced by both top-down and bottom-up nanofabrication.
Individually these instruments are world-leading in their own right, but together they can provide an unprecedented level of understanding of the chemical, structural and topological makeup of materials, from soft biological materials such as plant, animal and human cells, to semiconductor and inorganic thin films, to nanomaterials such as graphene and nanotubes.
To help in the understanding of how these ion beam techniques can provide results for your research, we have identified two key application areas for the HIM and the ToF-SIMS:
- Nanofabrication
- Nanoscale & Molecular Characterisation
If you would like to have a discussion or enquire about use and project costs please contact us detailing your enquiry.
The Zeiss ORION NanoFab is a third generation Helium Ion Microscope (HIM) that uses high energy helium ions to image and modify surfaces.
Functionally it is very similar to a typical Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), but by using helium ions instead of electrons we can achieve greater spatial resolution than even the very best commercial SEMs currently available.
The interaction volume of a helium ion is much smaller than that of an electron, so we see much greater material contrast in HIM, and the beam is so well collimated that the depth-of-field is much greater than in SEM. This means we see more detail and higher sharpness while maintaining focus over a large depth range.
All of this is achieved by first ionising helium atoms at a tip that is so sharp only three atoms exist at its very apex. This is called a trimer.
The first trimer achieved on the NanoFab. Once this is achieved, three beams of helium ions are emitted, one from each atom. We select one of these beams to align down the column and use for imaging. To the right is an image of the first trimer achieved on the NanoFab.
The result is a technique that enables imaging with resolution below 0.5nm, and with such good materials contrast that we can easily see graphene on substrates, grain boundaries in metals and crystalline solids, and surface features that are invisible to SEM.
Key Features of HIM
- Ultra-high resolution (<0.5nm) imaging of surfaces
- High sensitivity to surface features
- Very high materials contrast
- High depth-of-field
- Single-layer graphene on a copper grid
Applications of HIM
- High resolution imaging of micro and nano structured materials
- Imaging nano-sized arrays and nanoparticles
- Imaging soft biological samples
The ORION NanoFab is also equipped with the Zeiss Capella gallium Focused Ion Beam (Ga FIB) column.
This enables rapid milling of surfaces using a high current Ga+ ion beam capable of feature resolutions down to 3nm. It also allows for high resolution imaging of milled structures in real time.
The Capella column is controlled by the Nano Patterning and Visualisation Engine, or NPVE (Fibics Incorporated), and allows detailed milling recipes to be created and executed using an integrated user interface. This means arrays of structures can be easily 'drawn' onto an image of a surface, and then milled exactly as drawn by the user, with minimal effort.
Cross-sections and lift-outs can be programmed for detailed analysis of thin films and structures, either within the HIM, or for later analysis in other electron microscopy techniques.
The NPVE can even control the ORION column, and use the helium (or neon) beam to do milling with even greater resolution.
Key Features of FIB
- High resolution milling of surfaces down to 3nm
- High current Ga+ beam for rapid milling
- NPVE control for detailed patterning of surfaces
- Use of He/Ne beam for very high resolution milling
Applications of FIB
- Cross-sectional analysis of thin films or buried layers
- Generation of nano-scale arrays
- Creation of lift-out foils for analysis in transmission electron microscopy
The Ionoptika J105 is a high performance Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (ToF-SIMS) for the 3D surface imaging of soft biological, organic, inorganic and metal surfaces.
The Ionoptika J105 is a high performance Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (ToF-SIMS) for the 3D surface imaging of soft biological, organic, inorganic and metal surfaces.
The J105 maintains high mass and spatial resolution, and the use of a DC primary beam means a continuous stream of data can be acquired, allowing for rapid imaging and depth profiling of materials.
The J105 sets itself apart from other instruments by employing a dual stage analyser, consisting of a shaped field buncher, and a large non-linear reflectron with accuracy down to 5ppm. This setup is ideally suited to materials that have both chemical and topological structure.
The J105 can operate in MS/MS mode, whereby secondary ions are further fragmented to identify constituents of a certain mass species. This is one of only two ToF-SIMS instruments in the UK capable of doing MS/MS (the other one is located in Manchester).
Key Features of ToF-SIMS
- High mass and spatial resolution simultaneously
- Capability to do MS/MS
- Large area analysis
- Rapid, continuous acquisition
- Automated operation
Applications of ToF-SIMS
- Analysis of complex materials
- Chemical and structural analysis of materials
- Depth profiling
- 3D imaging