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

• FIB allows production of commercially viable nanopore-based devices.
• FIB technique applicable to free-standing and atomically-thin sheets.
• FIB applicable for biosensing, energy, and ultrafiltration device fabrication.
• FIB patterned h-BN flakes are very promising for biosensing applications.

Fabrication of nanopores and nanomasks 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).

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