A finely focused ion beam is scanned over a surface on which a local gas ambient of dimethyl gold hexafluoro acetylacetonate is created by a directed miniature nozzle. The incident ions induce the selective deposition of gold along the path traced by the beam. The 15‐keV Ga+ion beam current is 100 pA and the beam diameter is 0.5 &mgr;m. Gold lines of 0.5 &mgr;m width and Gaussian profile are written. The film growth rate corresponds to five atoms deposited per incident ion. The focused ion beam deposited films contained 15% Ga, but less than 5% of other impurities, such as O or C. Deposition was also observed with broad ion beams of 750 eV Ar+and 50 keV Si+. The resistivity of the films varied from 2×10−5to 1.3×10−3&OHgr; cm.