Helium ion microscopy for graphene characterization and modification

© 2015 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. The helium ion microscope (HIM) is a recently developed complementary tool to electron microscopes (Morgan et al., 2006, Ward et al., 2006, 2007, Notte et al., 2007, Postek et al., 2007b, Ananth et al., 2008, Postek and Vladar, 2008, Scipioni, 2008, Scipioni et al., 2008) and has great potential to play a crucial role in advanced material characterization and modification (Joy et al., 2007, Postek et al., 2007a, Postek and Vladar, 2008, Jepson et al., 2009a, b). The advantage and benefit of using the HIM as a high-resolution imaging tool have been demonstrated, which is expected to particularly address challenges encountered in nanoscale metrology. The invasiveness of the observation also arouses scientists’ concern, especially for fairly sensitive samples like graphene. Nevertheless, a destructive method for a confined scale characterization, on the other hand, may uncover potential for precise modification: the HIM has a demonstrated capacity to directly and accurately tailor nanostructures