FIB patterning of dielectric, metallized and graphene membranes: A comparative study

Fabrication of nanopores and nanomaslcs has recently emerged as an area of considerable interest for research applications ranging from optics, to electronics and to biophysics. In this work we evaluate and compare the fabrication of nanopores, using a finely focused gallium beam, in free-standing membranes/films made of Si, SiN, and SiO2 (having thicknesses of a few tens of nanometers) and also in graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) atomically thin suspended sheets. Mechanical resistance, charging effects and patterning performances are evaluated and compared. In spite of the very different properties of the membranes we report that reproducible nanopore fabrication in the sub-10 nm range can be achieved in both amorphous and atomically thin sheets using Ga+ focused ion beams (FIB). (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.