Dysprosium liquid metal alloy ion source for magnetic nanostructures

Focused ion beam (FIB) processing has been established as a well-suited and promising technique in R&D in nearly all fields of nanotechnology for patterning and prototyping on the micrometer scale and below. Liquid metal alloy ion sources (LMAISs) represent an alternative to expand FIB application fields beyond all other source concepts. In particular, ions from the rare earth (RE) element Dy are very interesting for local modification of magnetic properties like RE-induced damping in metallic alloys. In this article, various alloys for source preparation were investigated. A promising solution was found in a Cu30Dy70 based LMAIS, which will be introduced in more detail.