A New Tool for Automation of Focused Ion Beam Bitmap Milling of Two-and Three-Dimensional Micro and Nanostructures

Abstract

Focused ion beam (FIB) bitmap milling is a technique used for the fabrication of micro- and nanostructures with high precision. Bitmap files can store the design information of a structure and control the beam dwell time in each pixel. We developed a Graphical User Interface that enables fast and automatic generation of patterns and bitmap files for 2D and 3D micro-structures fabrication with a FIB. Currently, this Python-based tool can generate bitmap files for arrays of different geometries, including circles, squares, and triangles. In addition, the interface can generate a suitable grayscale for 3D structures by defining the profile function.