Hivemind research question

So…

I need something that is mildly convincing to explain the following scenario (mildly only, it’s far future and I can fudge quite a bit as the tech isn’t the main point): a combat drone incapacitates its targets through some kind of electromagnetic frequency that burns away specific areas of the brain. I need my targets to be upright and more or less mobile by the end, which is why I don’t want to fry away the entire brain/the body. Target can be as stationary as needed; drone can be assumed to have all kinds of nifty equipments that will enable it to generate any kind of wavelength (we’ll worry about miniaturisation later).

Basically, I need pointers, because I don’t really know how to start researching this…

Thanks in advance!

Cross-posted from Aliette de Bodard

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