Ion beam induced deposition

Ion beam induced deposition or IBID is a technique for direct-write (maskless lithography) metallisation of substrates. A precursor gas containing the metal of interest is dissociated by an ion beam, typically in a FIB (focused ion beam) machine, the metal thereby being deposited onto the substrate. The beam being controlled by the computer software, any metal pattern can be written, and linewidths inferior to 10 nanometres have been written. Disadvantages of the technique include poor deposit quality, toxic precursor gases and long deposition times.