Nanobeam has completed a proof-of-prototype demonstration, subsequent to a design study and to initial construction of its focused-ion-beam equipment. The current version is based on US patent 5,369,279 titled "Chromatically Compensated Ion Beam Column". Although this Cc-only patent is expired, Dr. Martin has obtained a patent for its improvement as a Cc/Cs corrected objective lens US patent 9,275,817. There is also an application for the Cc/Cs lens in dual-ion-beam instruments, including revised claims for many modes of use, published according to Patent Office procedure as application US 2016/0042914 A1 . Nanobeam retains an accumulation of valuable know-how in-house, including working drawings and specialized computer programs for design and operation.

The column was described in an abstract and a corresponding poster at the EIPBN12 conference in Hawaii in 2012, which were never further published. It was also described in an abstract giving coefficients and estimating stability requirements for He, Ne, and Ga, and a corresponding poster at the M&M2013 conference in Indianapolis in 2013. In addition an article estimating that 0.3 angstrom resolution can be obtained with Ne ions was later published in the journal Microscopy and Microanalysis.

At the 2013 conference a theory deriving the five 3rd-order coefficients of a quadrupole doublet, based on Newton's laws and the impulse approximation, was outlined in an abstract and a poster . This theory, used in an experimental paper long ago, is presented in a final formal paper . Other background can be found in some of Dr. Martin's publications.

The patent, patent application, and know-how such as working drawings and computer programs are available for purchase. We seek inquiries from larger corporations interested in the integrated circuit capital equipment business, such as vacuum equipment manufacturers, optical lithography manufacturers, and ion implantation companies. Our current interest is to combine bright laser-cooled ion sources with our achromatic objective lenses to make a cesium nanobeam for ion beam milling and SIMS applications.




r&d7 update posted 2/10/19


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