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Microstructural Characterization of Automated Specimen Preparation for TEM Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

C. Urbanik Shannon
Affiliation:
Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center, Mechanical Materials & Aerospace Engineering, University of Central Honda, 4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, FL, 32816-2450.
L. A. Giannuzzi
Affiliation:
Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center, Mechanical Materials & Aerospace Engineering, University of Central Honda, 4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, FL, 32816-2450.
E. M. Raz
Affiliation:
SELA, 1030 East Duane Ave., Suite B, Sunnyvale, CA, 94086.
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Extract

Automated specimen preparation for transmission electron microscopy has the obvious advantage of saving personnel time. While some people may perform labor intensive specimen preparation techniques quickly, automated specimen preparation performed in a timely and reproducible fashion can significantly improve the throughput of specimens in an industrial laboratory. The advent of focused ion beam workstations for the preparation of electron transparent membranes has revolutionized TEM specimen preparation. The FIB lift-out technique is a powerful specimen preparation method. However, there are instances where the “traditional” FIB method of specimen preparation may be more suitable. The traditional FIB method requires that specimens must be prepared so that the area of interest is as thin as possible (preferably less than 50 μm) prior to FIB milling. Automating the initial specimen preparation for brittle materials (e.g., Si wafers) may be performed using the combination of cleaving and sawing techniques as described below.

Type
Applications and Developments of Focused Ion Beams
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America

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References

References:

1.Giannuzzi, et al., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 480, (1997), 19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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3. The support by NSF DMR #9703281, AMPAC, the I4/UCF/Cirent Partnership, and SEMATECH is greatly appreciated. Many thanks go to FEI Company and Micro Optics Inc. for their support.Google Scholar