Hi - this is on the extremely small end of cnc machining, but I will post it here in case anyone is interested.

I work as a consultant for a company that sells Electron Beam Writers. (not electron beam welders) Their web site is here: http://www.crestec8.co.jp/englishF/

You can think of electron beam writing as similar to laser marking, but instead of using a laser, it uses a very small electron beam - sort of like a CRT TV. It is substantially more expensive than laser marking as well.

The size scale of writing is rather small. Typical feature sizes are 15 - 250nm, but features as large as 250 x 250 microns are viable. The largest item it can handle right now is 150mm x 150mm x 10mm thick. (some room to play there with the Z axis) but it must be flat.

These systems usually write into resist (positive or negative) which is then developed, and pattern transferred with plasma etching.

Typical applications are for research use in writing special semiconductor patterns, fresnel lenses, gratings and arrays, MEMS, miniature antenna structures, etc.

If you follow the link, you will see that we have sold and installed one of these systems at UC Berkeley in CA, but there are systems in other countries as well. I am responsible for the system at UC Berkeley, and have access to writing time on the system.

The E Beam writing work is performed by a PhD employee of Crestec (the manufacturer), and there is often a fairly high interaction level during the pattern setup process with the customer. Pricing, in case anyone is curious, is US$500 per hour - which is actually quite reasonable if you have ever tried to obtain this kind of service.

Send me a PM if you are interested, or just reply to this thread and I will reach you via email.

Thanks

Harry