"If needed, we would have shod even an infusoria, let alone a flea": St Petersburg University specialists engrave congratulations for the Russian Science Foundation on the University’s badge

They used the focused beam of helium ions of the scanning ion microscope (SIM) "Carl Zeiss Orion+." Theoretically, the use of light helium ions is a technique for precise nanopatterning, including sputtering, of the surface of metal samples with a resolution of nanometres. In practice, however, the experimenters had to solve a number of problems.

Firstly, due to the presence of residual surface contaminants, the spraying of the substrate material was accompanied by the process of decomposition of hydrocarbon compounds, which led to a "carbon deposit." The situation could be improved only after two weeks of "keeping" the badge in a vacuum chamber.

Secondly, it turned out that when writing a phrase in several lines with dense filling, helium tends to accumulate, resulting in bubbles, swelling the surface and changing the letters, sometimes they were impossible to understand. To solve this problem, it was necessary to sacrifice resolution and increase the area of the inscription.

"St Petersburg University congratulates the Russian Science Foundation on its 10^th anniversary. We wish you every success in preserving and increasing the intellectual potential of our country, in implementing innovative projects and initiatives for the benefit of Russia’s science," the congratulations read.

The latter made it possible to significantly reduce the radiation density and increase the cutting depth. There was another problem: the heterogeneity of the coating with small defects and irregularities. Several approaches were taken to "level" the background contrast. The most successful was the application of a uniform coating of a noble metal to remove imperfections, except for morphology. All in all, despite all the difficulties that arose, a very small congratulatory inscription appeared on the badge.