Combined Tripod Polishing and Fib Method for Preparing Semiconductor Plan View Specimens

Anderson, Ron; Klepeis, Stanley J.

doi:10.1557/proc-480-187

Cited by 17 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…3,10,11 Reducing the thickness of the initial piece of material to only 2-3 mm or less in the volume of interest offers several advantages, such as reduced FIB milling time and a reduced fluorescence yield contribution from the neighboring material in analytical TEM investigations with energy-dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX). A modified version of this technique can also be used to prepare planview specimens.…”

Section: Methods Requiring Pre-thinningmentioning

confidence: 99%

TEM Sample Preparation and FIB-Induced Damage

Mayer¹,

Giannuzzi²,

Kamino³

et al. 2007

MRS Bull.

793

486

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preparation can be applied to almost any material type-hard, soft, or combinations thereof. The number of materials for which successful TEM sample preparation with FIBs has been documented certainly reaches several hundred and spans from hard matter such as metals, ceramics, and composites to soft matter including polymers, biological materials, and even frozen liquids.The main disadvantage of FIBs, however, is caused by the nature of the milling process: the ion collisions initiating sputter removal can also lead to ion implantation and cause severe damage to the remaining bulk of the material. As the FIB lamellae method spreads to more advanced TEM techniques, various procedures have been developed to reduce or repair this damage.In this article, the major specimen preparation techniques are reviewed; the consequences of FIB-induced damage are discussed, along with strategies to reduce the damage; and an overview on applications in materials science and in related instrumental fields is presented. Specimen Preparation TechniquesSince the first-generation FIBs were mainly used as semiconductor tools, early attempts to prepare TEM specimens in an FIB also focused on semiconductor materials. The initial methods were based on mechanically polishing the sample down to an approximately 50-mm lamella and then using the FIB to cut two trenches, one from each side, leaving behind a thin electron-transparent lamella supported by bulk material on two opposite sides ( Figure 1). 2 Referring to the geometry seen in Figure 1, this method is frequently called the H-bar technique. This method was subsequently refined by employing a tripod polisher for the initial thinning of the thin slab, 3 which is particularly valuable in the case of complex semiconductor devices.In parallel, techniques were developed that make it possible to directly remove an electron-transparent lamella from a bulk specimen without mechanical polishing (see Figure 2). These so-called liftout techniques were first proposed by Overwijk et al. 4 and further developed to a routinely and reliably applicable technique for a broad materials range by Giannuzzi et al. 5 Whereas the first attempts were based on an ex situ lift-out of the lamella using a micromanipulator under an optical microscope, techniques based on an in situ lift-out of the lamella are gaining increasing importance. 6 Specimens extracted by in situ lift-out can be shaped in a number of different and 400 MRS BULLETIN • VOLUME 32 • MAY 2007 • www/mrs.org/bulletin AbstractOne of the most important applications of a focused ion beam (FIB) workstation is preparing samples for transmission electron microscope (TEM) investigation. Samples must be uniformly thin to enable the analyzing beam of electrons to penetrate. The FIB enables not only the preparation of large, uniformly thick, sitespecific samples, but also the fabrication of lamellae used for TEM samples from composite samples consisting of inorganic and organic materials with very different properties. This article gives an overview of the...

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Section: Methods Requiring Pre-thinningmentioning

confidence: 99%

TEM Sample Preparation and FIB-Induced Damage

Mayer¹,

Giannuzzi²,

Kamino³

et al. 2007

MRS Bull.

793

486

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“…Since our results have shown that the epoxy can penetrate to a depth of about10 µ m or more, the sample would need to be FIB cut using the cleaning cross sectioning to a total thickness of 16–20 µ m. The epoxy would need to be removed from both cross sectional surfaces with the FIB, as described above, and then oriented 90º. A lift-out procedure could then be used to remove the thinned plan view section at the desired depth for further thinning to electron transparency (Anderson & Klepis, 1997). The flexibility of this sample preparation procedure in terms of sample geometry makes it useful for TEM preparation of a variety of samples, including ballistic fragments and multiphase materials or composites with specific directionalities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Multi-Step Transmission Electron Microscopy Sample Preparation Technique for Cracked, Heavily Damaged, Brittle Materials

2014

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A new technique for the preparation of heavily cracked, heavily damaged, brittle materials for examination in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) is described in detail. In this study, cross-sectional TEM samples were prepared from indented silicon carbide (SiC) bulk ceramics, although this technique could also be applied to other brittle and/or multiphase materials. During TEM sample preparation, milling-induced damage must be minimized, since in studying deformation mechanisms, it would be difficult to distinguish deformation-induced cracking from cracking occurring due to the sample preparation. The samples were prepared using a site-specific, two-step ion milling sequence accompanied by epoxy vacuum infiltration into the cracks. This technique allows the heavily cracked, brittle ceramic material to stay intact during sample preparation and also helps preserve the true microstructure of the cracked area underneath the indent. Some preliminary TEM results are given and discussed in regards to deformation studies in ceramic materials. This sample preparation technique could be applied to other cracked and/or heavily damaged materials, including geological materials, archaeological materials, fatigued materials, and corrosion samples.

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“…2. Both sides of the small specimen are then carefully polished using a "tripod polisher" (Anderson et al, 1997) in order to produce parallel surfaces and minimize the mechanical damage introduced during diamond saw cutting. The polished sample should have a thickness of less than 100 µm.…”

Section: Conventional H-bar Techniquementioning

confidence: 99%

Advanced Techniques in TEM Specimen Preparation

Li¹

2012

The Transmission Electron Microscope

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Combined Tripod Polishing and Fib Method for Preparing Semiconductor Plan View Specimens

Cited by 17 publications

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TEM Sample Preparation and FIB-Induced Damage

TEM Sample Preparation and FIB-Induced Damage

A Multi-Step Transmission Electron Microscopy Sample Preparation Technique for Cracked, Heavily Damaged, Brittle Materials

Advanced Techniques in TEM Specimen Preparation

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