Influence of dwell time on focused ion beam (FlB) mcromachining process by
means of single pixel writing mode sputtering silicon is discussed in this
paper. It affects line broadening and sputtering depth during the milling p
rocess in silicon material. It is proved by the experimental results that l
ong dwell time leads to deep milling depth due to reducing scanning numbers
of pixel. The broadening effect by the wing of Gaussian distribution profi
le is different from the variation of beam limiting aperture size. In the c
ase of the aperture size 150 mu m and below, the effect is little with chan
ging of dwell time. It is obviously serious for large aperture size with th
e short dwell times of less than 3 mu s. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All
rights reserved.