Widely used engineering technique has unintended consequences

Felix Hofmann and Edmund Tarleton, both authors of the paper, at the Focused Ion Beam (FIB) instrument at the Department of Materials, University of Oxford, UK. A technique that revolutionised scientists' ability to manipulate and study materials at the nano-scale may have dramatic unintended consequences, new Oxford University research reveals. Focused Ion Beam Milling (FIB) uses a tiny beam of highly energetic particles to cut and analyse materials smaller than one thousandth of a stand of human hair. This remarkable capability transformed scientific fields ranging from materials science and engineering to biology and earth sciences. FIB is now an essential tool for a number of applications including; researching high performance alloys for aerospace engineering, nuclear and automotive applications and for prototyping in micro-electronics and micro-fluidics. FIB was previously understood to cause structural damage within a thin surface layer (tens of atoms thick) of the material being cut. Until now it was assumed that the effects of FIB would not extend beyond this thin damaged layer.