Focus Ion Beam for Cross-Sectional TEM Specimen Preparation of Nanomaterials

Improved focused ion beam target preparation of (S)TEM specimen--a method for obtaining ultrathin lamellae.

Specimen quality is vital to (scanning) transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigations. In particular, thin specimens are required to obtain excellent high-resolution TEM images. Conventional focused ion beam (FIB) preparation methods cannot be employed to reliably create high quality specimens much thinner than 20 nm. We have developed a method for in situ target preparation of ultrathi...

TEM specimen preparation techniques

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a powerful tool for the investigation of the microstructure of materials, providing crystallographic information and composition at the nanometer scale. For such studies, samples should be transparent to the electron beam. In this review, TEM sample preparation techniques for different classes of materials, such as metals and alloys, multilayered coatin...

Advanced Techniques in TEM Specimen Preparation

The recent development of Dual-BeamTM or Cross-BeamTM FIB systems has gradually taken over the traditional single beam FIB systems. A typical FIB column contains a liquid metal ion source that produces a finely focused Ga ion beam. The primary Ga ion beam is accelerated by 30-50 kV, and directed towards the features of interest on the specimen. The incident ion beam will sputter atoms from the ...

Focused high- and low-energy ion milling for TEM specimen preparation

A Focused Ion Beam Specimen Preparation Method to Minimize Gallium Ion Concentration in Copper Atom-Probe Tomography Specimen Tips

Atom-probe tomography (APT) is a quantitative technique that permits three-dimensional (3-D) spectroscopic characterization of interfaces and other nanometer-scale features within a material. Specimens for atom-probe tomography (APT) analysis of semiconductor devices and nanostructured materials are typically fabricated employing a focused ion beam (FIB) instrument [1 3] or a dual-beam FIB inst...