Advanced Focused Beam-Induced Processing for Nanoscale Synthesis and 2D Materials Device Architectures

Nanofabrication has come to prominence over recent years due to miniaturization of electronic devices as well as interesting physical phenomena that arise in material systems at the nanoscale. Particle beam induced processing enables additive as well as subtractive nanoprocessing techniques. Focused beam induced processing facilitates direct-write processing, thus making it a common technique for fabrication and synthesis on the nanoscale and is typically carried out with charged particles such as electrons or ion species, each of which offer distinct capabilities. This dissertation addresses several challenges which currently plague the focused beam-induced processing community and explores novel applications.Chapter I explores laser based purification strategies for electron beam induced deposition. This addresses the challenge of material purity, which currently limits broader application of the nanofabrication technique. Chapter II covers advanced helium ion beam induced processing using a Gas Field Ionization source. This chapter explores novel applications for the helium ion beam as well as the mitigation of helium-induced subsurface damage, which currently prevents ubiquitous adoption of the helium ion microscope as a nanofabrication tool. Chapter III studies defect introduction in 2D materials under helium ion irradiation, which proves to be an ideal nanoprocessing application for the helium ion beam.

Portions of this document were previously published in a number of journals. This information is provided at the beginning of each section.