In a recent paper [McCord and Pease, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B3, 198 (1985)] we described how it should be possible to generate, for lithography and other materials processing, an electron beam with an extraordinary combination of high current (>1 mA), low voltage (<100 V) and small diameter (<0.1 μm) using a modified scanning tunneling microscope (STM) operating in the field emission mode. To test this prediction we have built a modified STM onto the stage of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) so that we can monitor system geometry. The tip, an etched tungsten wire, can be manually moved in thezdirection (normal to the target) for coarse motion and three PZT piezoelectric transducers allow 10 μm travel in thex,y, andzdirections. A feedback system stabilizes the field emission current (and hence the tip‐to‐target spacing). We have obtained beams with currents from 1 nA to several microamps at voltages from 1 to 1000 V. We have used the beam to produce lines of contamination on a gold film; the contamination was then used as a mask against sputter etching to produce gold lines. In addition we have exposed a Langmuir–Blodgett resist film. In both cases we have produced sub‐tenth‐micron lines.