Abstract Bulk single crystals exhibit the intrinsic properties of a given compound, but studying their anisotropic magnetotransport properties is challenging. Focused Ion Beam (FIB) milling at room temperature has been previously used to guide the electrical current path along a defined crystal direction or to extract microcrystals where the electrical current flows along a known direction. However, some materials, such as bismuth, melt under FIB irradiation. Bismuth, known for its unique properties, including very large magnetoresistance and a highly anisotropic Fermi surface, reacts to room‐temperature Ga + FIB irradiation, forming droplets on its surface. Therefore, a novel microfabrication approach based on cryogenic FIB milling is developed here. By using a Peltier stage or an integrated cryogenic module, surface melting is mitigated below −30 °C. Microscale slabs are extracted, either parallel or perpendicular to the single crystal surface, then shaped and electrically contacted in a chip for magnetotransport characterization. The large magnetoresistance observed along with Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations with single periodicity when current is applied perpendicular to the c axis, highlights the success of the approach. These results enable FIB microfabrication of single crystals that are sensitive to FIB irradiation and investigation of the anisotropic magnetotransport properties in microcrystals.
Hernández et al. (Sat,) studied this question.
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