FIB Plan and Side View Cross-Sectional TEM Sample Preparation of Nanostructures

Abstract

Focused ion beam is a powerful method for cross-sectional transmission electron microscope sample preparation due to being site specific and not limited to certain materials. It has, however, been difficult to apply to many nanostructured materials as they are prone to damage due to extending from the surface. Here we show methods for focused ion beam sample preparation for transmission electron microscopy analysis of such materials, demonstrated on GaAs-GaInP core shell nanowires. We use polymer resin as support and protection and are able to produce cross-sections both perpendicular to and parallel with the substrate surface with minimal damage. Consequently, nanowires grown perpendicular to the substrates could be imaged both in plan and side view, including the nanowire-substrate interface in the latter case. Using the methods presented here we could analyze the faceting and homogeneity of hundreds of adjacent nanowires in a single lamella.

Phase Transformation in Radially Merged Wurtzite GaAs Nanowires

“…Using FIB could potentially induce defects, but our method is gentle enough to preserve high crystalline quality of the prepared sample. 28 High resolution TEM (HRTEM), dark field TEM (DFTEM), scanning TEM (STEM), and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) were used for analysis.…”

Advanced preparation of plan-view specimens on a MEMS chip for in situ TEM heating experiments

“…In this regard, a number of studies have been engaged in solving obstacles faced during the planview preparation. 11,13,21,31,[36][37][38][39][40] It is noteworthy that an ion beam can cause temporary or permanent changes in the material. The main effects can be in the form of electrostatic charging, ionization damage, sputtering heating, and hydrocarbon contamination.…”

Site-specific plan-view TEM lamella preparation of pristine surfaces with a large field of view

“…To the best of our knowledge, these approaches can generally be categorized into two groups: (i) A mechanical treatment -e.g. embedding into resin [1], sandwich gluing [2], tripod respectively planar polishing [3,4] -optionally followed by FIB slicing at the edge of the residual bulky sample. (ii) A direct extraction of a block of material from the top using the FIB [5].…”