Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for selective removal of atoms from a substrate. Such a method comprises forming a patterned mask over at least a portion of the surface of the substrate to form a masked portion and an unmasked portion of the surface. In an embodiment, the method comprises exposing the surface to low energy light ions. In a related embodiment the low energy light ions selectively remove atoms from the unmasked portion of the substrate. In some embodiments, the method further comprises removing the mask.In another embodiment, the present disclosure relates to a method of creating a plurality of magnetic domains on a magnetically susceptible substrate. In an embodiment, the present disclosure pertains to a method of forming a magnetic medium.