Amorphization Induced by Focused Ion Beam Milling in Metallic and Electronic Materials

Abstract

Focused ion beam~FIB! milling using high-energy gallium ions is widely used in the preparation of specimens for transmission electron microscopy~TEM!. However, the energetic ion beam induces amorphization on the edge of specimens during milling, resulting in a mischievous influence on the clearness of high-quality transmission electron micrographs. In this work, the amorphization induced by the FIB milling was investigated by TEM for three kinds of materials, metallic materials in bulk shape, and semiconductive and electronic ceramic materials as a substrate for the deposition of thin films.

Structure and properties of nanocomposite Mo—Si—B—(N) coatings

“…2). The differ ence between the data of transmission electron microscopy and X ray phase analysis data may be due to amorphization of the coating material in the pro cess of thin foil preparation by ion etching [28].…”

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

“…This process is a well documented process [14][15][16]. The implantation of the ion into the disordered amorphous layer is also expected.…”

“…The implantation of the ion into the disordered amorphous layer is also expected. However, the amorphization depends on the nature of the materials [15][16][17]. Therefore, the ion beam induced amorphous layer is not formed on the surface of the metallic compounds since the metallic bonds will reform in the lattice.…”

Highly Enhanced Curie Temperature in Ga‐Implanted Fe3GeTe2 van der Waals Material

“…We estimate a possible 10–30 nm amorphous or structurally changed layer in our sample according to Ga irradiation result on a range of different materials. [ 19 ] From the point of view of magnetism, magnetic vortex state could be formed spontaneously only above a critical thickness, [ 14,20 ] the amorphous or structurally changed layer alone seems unlikely to form the magnetic vortex state. Therefore, the magnetic vortex state is more likely contributed from both the amorphous or structurally changed surface layer and the single crystalline Fe 3 GeTe 2 .…”