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Focused ion beam (FIB) systems based on high-brightness gallium liquid-metal ion sources became commercially available in the late 1980s, although even today such instruments are relatively rare outside the somewhat enclosed world of semiconductor manufacturing. The use of FIB systems as precision sectioning tools down to a submicron scale and their ability to deposit metals and insulators on a micron...
Focused ion-beam (FIB) milling is a commonly used technique for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) sample preparation of inorganic materials. In this study, we seek to evaluate the FIB as a TEM preparation tool for human dentin. Two particular problems involving dentin, a structural analog of bone that makes up the bulk of the human tooth, are examined. Firstly, the process of aging is studied...
The preparation of samples containing stress corrosion crack tips for 3D atom-probe tomography and transmission electron microscopy is of ultimate importance for understanding the mechanisms controlling crack propagation. In this paper, it will be shown that a focused ion beam machine equipped with an in situ micromanipulator is an ideal tool to systematically prepare such demanding samples. The methodology...
Steps to improve the success yield of the in situ lift-out technique are presented. These include tapping the plinth of the system and monitoring the grounding current to check the lift-out needle is fixed to the material being removed. In addition, the relative success yields and the time to prepare a TEM lamella for the three main FIB methods are discussed and compared.
A method to grow branched carbon nanostructures arrays is presented. We employ the electron-beam-induced deposition method using a transmission electron microscope in poor vacuum conditions where hydrocarbons are present in the chamber. The hydrocarbons are attracted to the substrates by the local electric fields. Saw-tooth nano-patterns were made with a focused ion beam in porous silicon substrates...
In this paper the capabilities of FIB systems as a tool for TEM studies of ancient pottery are explored, especially when the amount of available material is very limited and when, for instance, there is stringent demand for very accurate location of the electron-transparent area as is the case for investigation of outer surface layers, such as slips and patinas. The advantages of the two main FIB...
To estimate the spatial resolution of microtomographs, a test object on the submicrometer scale was prepared by focused ion beam milling and subjected to microtomographic analysis. Since human tissues are composed of cells and extracellular matrices with micrometer and submicrometer structures, it is important to investigate the three-dimensional spatial resolution of microtomographs used to visualize...
We studied the formation of locally coated sub-10-nm nanopores fabricated by ion-beam milling and ion-beam-induced deposition (IBID) in a thin silicon nitride membrane. Two typical precursor gases representing conductive ((CH 3 ) 3 Pt(CpCH 3 ), CPC for short) and insulating (tetra ethyl oxysilane, TEOS for short) material deposition are used. Three-dimensional electron tomography,...
When producing slices from Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se) 2 thin films for solar cells by use of a focused ion beam (FIB), agglomerates form on the Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se) 2 surfaces, which deteriorate substantially the imaging and analysis in scanning electron microscopy. Similar problems are also experienced when depth-profiling Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se) 2 thin films by means of glow-discharge or secondary...
Focused ion beam (FIB) sample preparation in combination with subsequent transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis are powerful tools for nanometre-scale examination of the cell–mineral interface in bio-geological samples. In this study, we used FIB-TEM to investigate the interaction between a cyanobacterium (Hassallia byssoidea) and a common sheet silicate mineral (biotite) following a laboratory-based...
Focused ion beam (FIB) microscopy uses Ga + ions to remove material from a sample for a variety of imaging and preparation techniques. While considerable work has examined the effects of FIB exposure on a number of materials, optimized FIB conditions for use with softer polymeric materials are yet to be determined. In this report we use phase contrast AFM to measure local changes in the elastic...
This article deals with the development of an original sample preparation method for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) using focused ion beam (FIB) micromachining. The described method rests on the use of a removable protective shield to prevent the damaging of the sample surface during the FIB lamellae micromachining. It enables the production of thin TEM specimens that are suitable for plan...
Alloy 800 (Fe–21Cr–33Ni) has been found susceptible to cracking in acid sulfate environments, but the mechanism is not well understood. Alloy 800 C-ring samples were exposed to an acid sulfate environment at 315°C and cracks were found with depths in excess of 300μm after 60h. Preparation of a TEM sample containing crack tips is challenging, but the ability to perform high-resolution microscopy at...
A variety of methods for the investigation and 3D representation of the inner structure of materials has been developed. In this paper, techniques based on slice and view using scanning microscopy for imaging are presented and compared. Three different methods of serial sectioning combined with either scanning electron or scanning ion microscopy or atomic force microscopy (AFM) were placed under scrutiny:...
We describe a technique using a focused ion beam instrument to fabricate high quality plan-view specimens for transmission electron microscopy studies. The technique is simple, site-specific and is capable of fabricating multiple large, >100μm 2 electron transparent windows within epitaxially grown thin films. A film of La 0.67 Sr 0.33 MnO 3 is used to demonstrate...
Ion-beam assisted molecular-beam epitaxy was used for direct growth of epitaxial GaN thin films on super-polished 6H–SiC(0001) substrates. The GaN films with different film thicknesses were studied using reflection high energy electron diffraction, X-ray diffraction, cathodoluminescence and primarily aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy techniques. Special attention was devoted...
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