Development of a local vacuum system for focused ion beam machining

A local vacuum system for focused ion beam (FIB) processing, with a workpiece set in the air, has been developed. The local vacuum apparatus had a double-wall cylinder structure, used a differential exhaust, and each cylinder was connected to a vacuum exhaust pump. When the gap between the workpiece and the apparatus was 10 microm, the pressure of beam line in the machining head achieved 2.1 x 10(-3) Pa. In addition, a visualization system was developed by visualizing the current flow out from a sample by FIB irradiation. With this system, it is possible to conduct focus adjustments of the FIB and shape recognition on a workpiece in the order of microns.