O-FIB: Far-field-induced near-field breakdown for direct nanowriting in an atmospheric environment

Nanoscale texturing, drilling, cutting and spatial sculpturing require not only high accuracy, but also the capability of manufacturing in the atmospheric environment. Towards this goal, scientists in China and Australia invented the optical far-field-induced near-field breakdown (O-FIB) as an optical version of the conventional focused ion beam FIB technique, allowing direct nanowriting in air. The universality of O-FIB makes it applicable for various materials and enables a large-area printing which is superior to the FIB.