Featured Publications
Showcasing publications by network partners relating to gas-ion microscopy
Books
Helium Ion Microscopy
Editors: Gregor Hlawacek, Armin Gölzhäuser (Springer, 2016)
The fundamentals of Helium Ion Microscopy (HIM) including the Gas Field Ion Source (GFIS), column and contrast formation. Nanofabrication. High resolution imaging. Theoretical models. Simulation approaches. Imaging of biological samples. Resist and precursor based nanofabrication. Applications in the semiconductor industry.
A complete introduction to the field and a comprehensive reference for its key applications. Written by experts and meets the needs of novice, regular users and expert readers alike. A final chapter by one of the HIM pioneers covers historical developments leading to the present day tool.
Gregor Hlawacek is a member of the PicoFIB Steering Group. He is based at HZDR in Germany.
Ion Microscopy
Hlawacek, G. (2019) In: Hawkes, P.W. & Spence, J.C.H. (Eds.) Ion Microscopy 14 Springer Handbook of Microscopy
Springer, pp. 677–714. Link to an online book
Papers
Photoluminescence of ZnO/ZnMgO heterostructure nanobelts grown by MBE
Oscar W Kennedy, Maximilian Zapf, Jean-Nicolas Audinot, Soupitak Pal, Santhana Eswara, Tom Wirtz, Carsten Ronning and Paul A Warburton (2020)
Nanotechnology, Vol 31(13), Article No. 135604.
Link to the publication on IOPscience's website
An atomic force microscope integrated with a helium ion microscope for correlative nanocharacterization
Andany, S.H.; Hlawacek, G.; Hummel, S.; Brillard, C.; Kangül, M. and Fantner, G.E. (2020)
Link to the publication on arXiv's website
Channeling effects in gold nanoclusters under He ion irradiation: insights from molecular dynamics simulations
Sadegh Ghaderzadeh, Mahdi Ghorbani-Asl, Silvan Kretschmer, Gregor Hlawacek and Arkady V. Krasheninnikov (2019)
Nanotechnology, vol. 31(3).
Link to the publication on the IOPscience's website
Photoresponsivity enhancement in monolayer MoS2 by rapid O-2:Ar plasma treatment
Jakub Jadwiszczak, Gen Li, Conor P. Cullen, Jing Jing Wang, Pierce Maguire, Georg S. Duesberg, James G. Lunney and Hongzhou Zhang (2019)
Applied Physics Letters, vol. 114, Article No 091103.
Defect-moderated oxidative etching of MoS2
Pierce Maguire, Jakub Jadwiszczak, Maria O'Brien, Darragh Keane, Georg Duesberg, Niall Mcevoy and Hongzhou Zhang (2019)
Journal of Applied Physics, 126, Article No 164301.
Suppression of the shear Raman mode in defective bilayer MoS2
Pierce Maguire, Clive Downing, Jakub Jadwiszczak, Maria O'Brien, Darragh Keane, John B. McManus, Georg S. Duesberg, Valeria Nicolosi, Niall McEvoy and Hongzhou Zhang (2019)
Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 125, Article No 064305.
Strain Anisotropy and Magnetic Domains in Embedded Nanomagnets
Nord, M.; Semisalova, A.; Kákay, A.; Hlawacek, G.; MacLaren, I.; Liersch, V.; Volkov, O.M.; Makarov, D.; Paterson, G.W.; Potzger, K.; Lindner, J.; Fassbender, J.; McGrouther, D. and Bali, R. (2019)
Small 15(52), Article No 1904738, Wiley.
Link to the publication on Wiley Online Library
Morphology modification of Si nanopillars under ion irradiation at elevated temperatures: plastic deformation and controlled thinning to 10 nm
Xiaomo Xu, Karl-Heinz Heinig, Wolfhard Möller, Hans-Jürgen Engelmann, Nico Klingner, Ahmed Gharbi, Raluca Tiron, Johannes von Borany and Gregor Hlawacek (2019)
Semiconductor Science and Technology, vol. 35(1).
Link to the publication on IOPscience's website
Characterization of atomic layer deposited alumina thin films on black silicon textures using helium ion microscopy
Scheul T E, Khorani E, Rahman T and Boden S (2019)
In AIP Conference Proceedings. vol. 2147, AIP Publishing. 6 pp.
Link to the publication on the University of Southampton website
PhD Student Tudor Scheul has spent most of his time as a PhD student developing, improving, and studying the opto-electronic properties of "black silicon", which is nanostructured silicon that supresses reflections to below 3% and appears visually black. Read more about Tudor's research.
MoS2 Memtransistors Fabricated by Localized Helium Ion Beam Irradiation
Jakub Jadwiszczak, Darragh Keane, Pierce Maguire, Conor P. Cullen, Yangbo Zhou, Huading Song, Clive Downing, Daniel Fox, Niall McEvoy, Rui Zhu, Jun Xu, Georg S. Duesberg, Zhi-Min Liao, John J Boland, and Hongzhou Zhang (2019)
"Just Accepted" ACS NANO (American Chemical Society)
Jakub Jadwiszczak is working in Photonics and Nanofabrication Group at School of Physics & CRANN, Trinity College Dublin. He passed his PhD viva in October 2019 under the supervision of Prof. Hongzhou Zhang. Jakub has been an active member of the PicoFIB Network and the PicoFIB steering group.
Cross-sectioning photovoltaic polymer blends with advanced gas-ion microscopy
Masters, R., Zhang, Y., Zhou, Y., , O’Connell, R., Zhang, H., Lidzey, D. and Rodenburg, C. (2018)
Microscopy and Analysis, 34 (2). pp. 16-18
Link to the publication on White Rose Research Online's website
A comparison of He and Ne FIB imaging of cracks in microindented silicon nitride
Baggott A., Mazaheri M., Zhou Y., Zhang H., Inkson B.J. (2018)
Materials Characterization, vol. 141, pp. 362-369.
"Helium ion microscopy (HIM) has been proposed as a high-resolution technique for imaging insulating materials in conjunction with an electron flood gun. In this paper, the non-conductive ceramic silicon nitride was imaged with HIM in order to resolve indentation-induced cracking. Conductively coated samples of the same material were imaged with both He and Ne beams and charging artefacts of ~ 100 nm diameter were observed along crack pathways."
Adam Baggott
Fig. 9. He-ISE images of charging hotspots on carbon coated SN-2. (a) Silicon nitride crack (block arrow) with ~100 nm zone, P, of local charging (dashed arrow) (b) ~100 nm diameter ISE depletion zone of a charging hotspot. (c) Hotspot with inset grayscale line scan and close-up.
Adam Baggott is a PhD researcher at The University of Sheffield under the supervision of Prof. Beverley Inkson. His research is centred on the characterisation of surface defects on silicon nitride bearings, primarily using focused ion beam (FIB) techniques.
Collaborations with Trinity College Dublin via PicoFIB support have enabled Adam to assess the suitability of helium and neon beams for imaging insulating ceramics.
New Perspectives on Nano-Engineering by Secondary Electron Spectroscopy in the Helium Ion and Scanning Electron Microscope
Stehling N., Masters R., Zhou Y., O'Connell R. (2018)
MRS Communications, vol. 8, issue 2, pp. 226-240.
"Secondary electron spectra from organic samples are found to reflect sample history and localised variation on the material surface. These early studies suggest that focussed ion beam secondary electron spectroscopy provides analytical capability, with potential to complement established techniques such as secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS)"
Rob Masters
Rob Masters is a postdoc working with Cornelia Rodenburg at the University of Sheffield. He is developing new ways of characterising organic materials in charged particle microscopes. His research applies advanced SEM and ion-beam technology to understand complex, nanostructured materials. Present focus is in advancing secondary electron spectroscopy to investigate the molecular and electronic properties of organic materials.
PicoFIB support helped Rob to work closely with researchers at Trinity College Dublin. The collaboration included testing a new secondary electron energy-filter to investigate applications of ion-induced secondary electron spectroscopy for characterising graphitic and polymeric materials.