EDTEK's masked ion beam lithography systems allows the fabrication of pattern features whose line width can be as small as 30 nm. This is a masked system employing silicon stencil masks up to 1 cm². Using step and repeat, the maximum printed area of this system is 6" x 6".

A helium ion source provides an accelerated ion beam which is drifted along a 25 foot evacuated tube to deliver a collimated beam for exposing samples. The energy of the ion beam is adjustable from 20 KeV to 150 KeV. Typically the samples are exposed through a silicon stencil mask for patterning. However, the stencil is easily removed for straight ion exposures of the substrate. A secondary port is also available allowing the beam to be used for other applications.

Silicon stencils are fabricated to be used in the ion lithography process. These stencils determine the pattern transferred by the ions. Maximum stencil size is approximately 1 x 1 cm. Each pattern to be printed using the Masked Ion Beam Lithography system must have its own stencil. Typical stencils are patterned using direct-write e-beam lithography.