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A Small Spot, Inert Gas, Ion Milling Process as a Complementary Technique to Focused Ion Beam Specimen Preparation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2017

Paul E. Fischione ,
Robert E.A. Williams ,
Arda Genç ,
Hamish L. Fraser ,
Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski ,
Martina Luysberg ,
Cecile S. Bonifacio  and
András Kovács
Paul E. Fischione*
Affiliation:
E.A. Fischione Instruments Inc., 9003 Corporate Circle, Export, PA 15632, USA
Robert E.A. Williams
Affiliation:
Center for the Accelerated Maturation of Materials, The Ohio State University, 1305 Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH 43212, USA
Arda Genç
Affiliation:
Center for the Accelerated Maturation of Materials, The Ohio State University, 1305 Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH 43212, USA
Hamish L. Fraser
Affiliation:
Center for the Accelerated Maturation of Materials, The Ohio State University, 1305 Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH 43212, USA
Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski
Affiliation:
Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons and Peter Grünberg Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Wilhelm-Johnen-Straße, 52425 Jülich, Germany
Martina Luysberg
Affiliation:
Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons and Peter Grünberg Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Wilhelm-Johnen-Straße, 52425 Jülich, Germany
Cecile S. Bonifacio
Affiliation:
E.A. Fischione Instruments Inc., 9003 Corporate Circle, Export, PA 15632, USA
András Kovács
Affiliation:
Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons and Peter Grünberg Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Wilhelm-Johnen-Straße, 52425 Jülich, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. [email protected]
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Abstract

This paper reports on the substantial improvement of specimen quality by use of a low voltage (0.05 to ~1 keV), small diameter (~1 μm), argon ion beam following initial preparation using conventional broad-beam ion milling or focused ion beam. The specimens show significant reductions in the amorphous layer thickness and implanted artifacts. The targeted ion milling controls the specimen thickness according to the needs of advanced aberration-corrected and/or analytical transmission electron microscopy applications.

Keywords

ion millingfocused ion beamamorphous damageimplantationartifact
Type
Instrumentation and Software
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , August 2017 , pp. 782 - 793
Copyright
© Microscopy Society of America 2017 

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