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Because tapering leads to inevitable artifacts in the analyses of compression experiments on micrometer sized pillars, in this study taper-free nanosized pillars of Zr-based metallic glass of Zr 61.8 Cu 18 Ni 10.2 Al 10 composition with diameter ranging from 600 to 90 nm were fabricated. These pillars were compressed in situ in a transmission electron microscope as a function of pillar diameter. Under compression each pillar of large diameter exhibits predominant inhomogeneous and intermittent plastic flow characterized by shear banding ͑SB͒ events. However, pillars around 150 nm in diameter and below show homogeneous deformation during compression without SB.

A versatile method to fabricate taper-free micro-/nanopillars of large aspect ratio was developed with focused ion beam (FIB) cutting. The key features of the fabrication are a FIB with an incident angle of 90° to the long axis of the pillar that enables milling of the pillar sideways avoiding tapering and the FIB current can be reduced step by step so as to reduce possible radiation damage of the milled surface by Ga ions. A procedure to accurately determine the cross-section of each pillar was developed.

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