The influence of ion beam parameters on pattern resolution.

In nanofabrication the generation of phonons and secondary electrons by an incoming ion in a specimen gets important in limiting the resolution of the fabricated structures. A model is presented for calculating the effect of ion beam parameters (mass and energy) on the resolution and the production yield. In this model the phonon and secondary electron effect are calculated based on results for the scattering of the ions obtained with the Monte Carlo simulation program TRIM. The fabrication resolution is simulated for implantation, sputtering and beam induced etching and beam induced deposition. Some preliminary results are given which show that the best resolution can be obtained for ions with high mass at low energy for all discussed fabrication techniques, while even the production yield is relatively high at these parameters.