Focused ion beam sculpted membranes for nanoscience tooling

High resolution FIB offers nowadays the capability to sculpt matter at the nanometer scale. Using FIB to engrave membranes opens new emerging routes for nanoscience tooling. We propose here a way to fabricate tensile SiC membranes (with thicknesses adjustable between 10 and 100 nm), in order to drill them with high resolution focused ion beam, to obtain holes below 15 nm. Moreover, we show how we can, in some specific conditions, take advantage of the behavior of the irradiated matter (sputtering/redeposition processes) to reduce the size of the drilled hole below 10 nm. Eventually, we present two applications of these objects in biophysics and nanoscience tooling. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.