Method and device for producing nanopores
AssigneeThe University of Tokyo
InventorsWei-Lun HSU, Akihide TAKAMOTO, Hiroyuki OSHIKAWA, Shigeo MARUYAMA, Hirofumi DAIGUJI, Chun Yen LEE
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Abstract
One embodiment provides a method for processing a thin film, the method including (a) providing a thin film; (b) irradiating the thin film with an electron beam; (c) observing the thin film to determine whether a pore satisfying a predetermined condition has been formed; and (d) if it is determined in (c) that the pore satisfying the predetermined condition has not been formed, repeating (b) and (c).
Claims20
A method for processing a thin film, the method comprising:
- (a) providing a thin film;
- (b) irradiating the thin film with a focused electron beam, the irradiating with the focused electron beam including repeatedly moving a focal point of the focused electron beam so as to pass through the thin film;
- (c) observing the thin film to determine whether a pore satisfying a predetermined condition has been formed;
- and
- (d) if it is determined in (c) that the pore satisfying the predetermined condition has not been formed, repeating (b) and (c).
A system being a unit for processing a pore, the system comprising:
- an electron gun capable of performing spot irradiation on an introduced sample and a lens system,
- the lens system being a focusing lens system,
- the lens system including an objective lens capable of repeatedly moving a focal point of the spot irradiation so as to switch between conditions of in-focus and defocus with respect to the sample;
- a bright-field detector capable of acquiring an image during the defocus;
- and
- a computer
- that receives output including the image during the defocus from the bright-field detector,
- that analyses the image,
- that determines a presence or absence of a pore of the sample,
- that evaluates a shape of the pore and determines, based on a result thereof, whether next spot irradiation is performed or processing is finished, and
- that determines a position of the next spot irradiation if the next spot irradiation is performed, and outputs an instruction to the lens system to perform spot irradiation on the position.
A thin film having a nanopore,
- wherein the nanopore has a maximum width of 10 nm or less, and
- the nanopore has an approximate ellipticity of 80% or more.
A method for processing a thin film, the method comprising:
- (a0) providing a thin film;
- (b1) irradiating the thin film with a first focused electron beam to form a pore in the thin film, the irradiating with the first focused electron beam including repeatedly moving a focal point of the first focused electron beam so as to pass through the thin film;
- (b2) irradiating an edge of the pore with a second focused electron beam to change a shape of the pore, the irradiating with the second focused electron beam including repeatedly moving a focal point of the second focused electron beam so as to pass through the thin film;
- (c2) observing the shape of the pore;
- and
- (d2) if the observed shape of the pore does not satisfy a predetermined condition, repeating (b2) and (c2).
A method for processing a thin film, the method comprising:
- (A0) providing a thin film;
- (B1) irradiating the thin film with a first focused electron beam to form a pore in the thin film, the irradiating with the first focused electron beam including repeatedly moving a focal point of the first focused electron beam so as to pass through the thin film;
- (C1) observing the thin film to check whether a pore satisfying a predetermined condition has been formed;
- (D1) if it is determined in (C1) that the pore satisfying the predetermined condition has not been formed, repeating (B1) and (C1);
- (B2) irradiating an edge of the pore of the thin film with a second focused electron beam, the irradiating with the second focused electron beam including repeatedly moving a focal point of the second focused electron beam so as to pass through the thin film;
- (C2) observing a shape of the pore;
- and
- (D2) if the shape of the observed pore does not satisfy the predetermined condition, repeating (B2) and (C2).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.