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Focused ion beam/scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM) is a tool commonly used for applications including preparation of site-specific transmission electron microscopy (TEM) samples, nanotomography, and electronic circuit edit. Another potential application is optical device prototyping; however, the ion beam itself has been shown to cause damage fatal to device operation. This thesis first includes several examples of FIB-fabricated optical devices that had limited functionality compared to simulation. Second, the underlying causes of ion beam-induced optical damage from gallium and xenon ion sources is characterized. Monte Carlo simulations of ion-solid interactions were confirmed using TEM analysis to measure the thickness of the damaged layer. For crystalline samples such as silicon, Raman response can be used as a measure of lattice damage. Using these techniques, it was found that optical damage from a gallium beam is more severe than from a xenon beam, and occurs in the form of lattice amorphization and implantation of beam ions. This damage hinders optical coupling by altering the physical and electronic structure of the sample. Consequently, the xenon PFIB is a better choice for optical device prototyping. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / The second half of the 20th century saw the advent of nanotechnology, both in the context of understanding the structure of the natural world beyond the limit of light microscopy, as well as manipulating materials to create useful microscopic devices, including the computers ubiquitous in today’s life. One technology that has contributed to today’s nano-centric paradigm is the focused ion beam/scanning electron microscope (FIB/SEM). The FIB/SEM is used to machine materials with extreme precision for many diverse applications such as modifying microcircuits, three-dimensional (3D) nanotomography, or to prepare samples for other microscopy techniques. For some applications, however, damage to the sample from the ion beam can be fatal. New ion sources have become available in the past ten years that may cause less damage to samples, and thus open up new applications for FIB. This thesis includes first a description of a series of optical devices prototyped using FIB. This is followed by a comparison of the damage induced by the conventional liquid gallium ion source and new xenon plasma ion sources, and a discussion of the relative merits of the ion sources for optical device fabrication.

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the study of hydrophobic surfaces. Hydrophobic surfaces have been used in multiple applications in microfluidic devices due to their properties of self-cleaning, and also in deicing products. Conventionally, hydrophobic surfaces were created by laser cutting, self-assembly and other chemical processing methods. However, in most of these methods, hydrophobicity of the surface cannot be maintained for an extended time or restricted to limited set of materials. A low-cost, high-throughput method to generate highly hydrophobic anisotropic surface has been developed in this thesis which uses Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machining employing diamond tools whose tips have been micro-structured using Focused Ion Beam (FIB) built tips. The versatility of this method has been demonstrated by machining both metal and polymeric materials. Significant anisotropic wetting has been observed on the machined surface with the anisotropic contact angle can reach up to 71.6 degree and highly-hydrophobic property with contact angle of 163.1degree on 6061 Aluminum Alloy and 155.7 degree on PMMA surface. / Thesis / Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME)

A variety of techniques are available to enable the fabrication of photonic crystal structures. Multi-beam-interference lithography (MBIL) is a relatively new technique which offers many advantages over more traditional means of fabrication. Unlike the more common fabrication methods such as optical and electron-beam lithography, MBIL is a method that can produce both two- and three-dimensional large-area photonic crystal structures for use in the infrared and visible light regimes. While multi-beam-interference lithography represents a promising methodology for the fabrication of PC structures, there has been an incomplete understanding of MBIL itself. The research in this thesis focuses on providing a more complete, systematic description of MBIL in order to demonstrate its full capabilities. Analysis of both three- and four-beam interference is investigated and described in terms of contrast and crystallography. The concept of a condition for primitive-lattice-vector-direction equal contrasts} is introduced in this thesis. These conditions are developed as nonlinear constraints when optimizing absolute contrast for producing lithographically useful interference patterns (meaning high contrast and localized intensity extrema). By understanding the richness of possibilities within MBIL, a number of useful interference patterns are found that can be created in a straightforward manner. These patterns can be both lithographically useful and structurally useful (providing interference contours that can define wide-bandgap photonic crystals). Included within this investigation are theoretical calculations of band structures for photonic crystals that are fabricatable through MBIL. The resulting calculations show that not only do most MBIL-defined structures exhibit similar performance characteristics compared to conventionally designed photonic crystal structures, but in some cases MBIL-defined structures show a significant increase in bandgap size. Using the results from this analysis, a number of hexagonal photonic crystals are fabricated using a variety of process conditions. It is shown that both rod- and hole-type photonic crystal structures can be fabricated using processes based on both positive and negative photoresist. The "light-field" and "dark-field" interference patterns used to define the hexagonal photonic crystal structures are quickly interchanged by the proper adjustment of each beam's intensity and polarization. The resulting structures, including a large area (~1 cm², 1 x 10⁹ lattice points) photonic crystal are imaged using a scanning electron microscope. Multi-beam-interference lithography provides an enabling initial step for the wafer-scale, cost-effective integration of the impressive PC-based devices into manufacturable DIPCS. While multi-beam-interference lithography represents a promising methodology for the fabrication of PC structures, it lacks in the ability to produce PC-based integrated photonic circuits. Future research will target the lack of a large-scale, cost-effective fabrication methodology for photonic crystal devices. By utilizing diffractive elements, a photo-mask will be able to combine both MBIL and conventional lithography techniques into a single fabrication technology while taking advantage of the inherent positive attributes of both.

Device fabrication on multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) using electrical beam lithography (EBL), electron beam induced deposition (EBID), ion beam induced deposition (IBID) methods was carried out, followed by device electrical characterization using a conventional probe station. A four-probe configuration was utilized to measure accurately the electrical resistivity of MWCNTs with similar results obtained from devices fabricated by different methods. In order to reduce the contact resistance of the beam deposited platinum electrodes, single step vacuum thermal annealing was performed. Microscopy and spectroscopy were carried out on the beam deposited electrodes to follow the structural and chemical changes occurring during the vacuum thermal annealing. For the first time, a core-shell type structure was identified on EBID Pt and IBID Pt annealed electrodes and analogous free standing nanorods previously exposed to high temperature. We believe this observation has important implications for transport properties studies of carbon materials. Apart from that, contamination of carbon nanostructure, originating from the device fabrication methods, was also studied. Finally, based on the observations of faster processing time together with higher yield and flexibility for device preparation, we investigated EBID to fabricate devices for other discrete carbon nanostructures.

his paper discusses the characteristics of laser radiation. Introduces the theory and in quite a description of the laser beam. To this end, experiments were compiled to measure the geometric and performance parameters, polarization and coherence. Emphasis is placed on the interdependence of the various parameters of laser radiation

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