Correlated Ion elecTRon fOr Nanoscience

Introduction

Electron and ion beams have become indispensable tools in surface and materials science. Many applications rely on extreme miniaturization, like in nanostructuring and doping, which imposes the need to control the energy, the number, and the locations of electrons or ions at the nanometric level.

Project Goals

The CITRON project aims at achieving breakthroughs in focused ion and electron beams, exploiting monochromaticity in the low-energy domain (eV-keV) to reach such a fine level of control of the sources of charged particles. In contrast with standard tools, the proposed developments rely on the ionization of a neutral atomic species and on the simultaneous production, detection, and control of both the ion and the electron.

Detection and Control

Such detection in coincidence yields correlated information on both particles that can be used to improve the beam properties, including:

• The deterministic knowledge of the creation of the charged particles.
• The correction of their trajectories in real time.

Prototypes Development

Using this novel technique, which I have recently demonstrated the feasibility of with my group, I propose to develop three innovative prototypes:

1. A focused ion beam using feedback control with unprecedented focused properties. I will use it to realize semiconductor circuit-editing at the (sub-)nm scale.
2. A deterministic source of (potentially) any type of ion for controlled implantation at the nm level. I will use it for on-demand doping of quantum devices.
3. A high-resolution electron-energy-loss microscope with precise knowledge of the electron energy and the position on the sample. I will use it to realize both imaging and vibrational spectroscopy for surface analysis.

Synergy and Requirements

The synergy between the three prototypes is based on atomic beam laser excitation to create a monoenergetic beam of charged particles, with energy and position controlled by correlation between oppositely charged particles. All will require dedicated optical column designs and fast time and position sensitive detectors.