Reduced spatial/temporal overlaps to increase temporal overlaps to increase precision in focused ion beam FIB instruments for milling and imaging and focused ion beams for lithography

Abstract

A beam control method is provided that can be implemented with any hardware system for imaging and/or cutting such as SEM/FIB/HIM or charged particle lithography which alleviates the deposited energy overlap between pixels to increase resolution and precision while reducing damage. The method includes scanning a workpiece with e-beam lithography, proton lithography, ion beam lithography, optical lithography, ion beam imaging or FIB in a reduced or sub-sampled pattern, to reduce beam overlap, which can include the step of scanning the beam ensuring that there is the largest difference in time and space between consecutive beam locations.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.