Ion Beams in Nanoscience and Technology

Book excerpt: Energetic ion beam irradiation is the basis of a wide plethora of powerful research- and fabrication-techniques for materials characterisation and processing on a nanometre scale. Materials with tailored optical, magnetic and electrical properties can be fabricated by synthesis of nanocrystals by ion implantation, focused ion beams can be used to machine away and deposit material on a scale of nanometres and the scattering of energetic ions is a unique and quantitative tool for process development in high speed electronics and 3-D nanostructures with extreme aspect radios for tissue engineering and nano-fluidics lab-on-a-chip may be machined using proton beams. This book will benefit practitioners, researchers and graduate students working in the field of ion beams and application and more generally everyone concerned with the broad field of nanoscience and technology.