Bruchhaus, Lars2012-07-162012-07-162012-07-16http://hdl.handle.net/2003/2951210.17877/DE290R-14294With the technology expertise from complementary fields, we have managed to develop a new liquid metal ion source (LMIS) focused ion beam (FIB) instrument dedicated to nano patterning. It possesses an acceleration voltage regime up to 40 kV. The instrument is a commensurate alternative nano patterning tool which has enabled us to explore a large amount of successful application fields. In our experiments we have exploited also additional ion-matter interactions to the two current main stream ones (sputtering and gas assisted processing). For example employing 40 keV Ga ions, we have analysed two applications in more detail: We exposed a 6 nm thin hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) resist and reached a line-width thinner than 10 nm as well as a minimum period of 30 nm. In addition we exploited the instrument patterning strategies flexibility to analyse a long known minimum line-width limiting effect in LMIS resist exposure. Thin films of Au55 clusters were exposed as a potential candidate for process complexity reduction in nano fabrication of conducting features. Further promising results are summarised proving the instrument stability and applicability.enAu55charged particle opticsFIBfocused ion beamgold clusterHSQIBLion beam lithographyion matter interactionsliquid metal ion sourceLMISnano patterningnanostructuresnanostructuring530doctoral thesisIonenstrahllithographieNanolithographie