by the invention to provide a vast potential for ic editing to remove the metal oxide created with the afm a chemical that has been shown to volatilize mobilize the metal oxide is introduced across the metal feature if the product of this reaction is volatile the metal oxide is removed without a further step if the chemical product from this reaction with the metal oxide is not volatile the addition of a solvent that would make the product soluble would be used with afm the whole working area sample and tip can work in a non air environment and so for the latter process the metal feature could be etched by immersing the part in a solution of the reactant to mobilize the metal oxide and a solvent that can make the product soluble for non surface metal removal e g deep hole repairs a hollow afm tip is used to initiate the oxidation process and also deliver the reactant chemicals to the metal feature fig1 and 2 illustrate removal of metal that is below some form of insulator while fig3 illustrates the removal of a top level metal as shown in fig1 and 2 for the case of ic chip repair interlevel dielectric ild material 100 layers that may exist between the top surface of the metal feature 105 are first removed typically using fib gas assisted etching gae.