An Introduction to a New Ion Beam Nanopatterning Instrument and its Application for Automatic Wafer Scale Nanopore Device Production

Several different instrumental approaches (conventional SEM-FIB, TEM, HIM etc.) have all been used to produce a few usable nanopores for developing biological filtering and molecule screening applications. These techniques have produced nanopores with varying degrees of quality, precision, repeatability and success. Here we introduce a new class of Ion Beam Lithography (IBL) / nanofabrication instrument which overcomes many of the established instrumental issues, and for the first time permits the automated production of nanopore devices at the (4') wafer scale. Exact nanopore placement within an existing device design, and integration of the milling process with other techniques is straightforward. Initial results from nanopores with state of the art dimensions, quality and uniformity are shown, and the instrumental process is discussed.