TEM sample preparation by ion milling/amorphization

Barna, Á.; Pécz, B.; Menyhárd, M.

doi:10.1016/s0968-4328(99)00011-6

Cited by 98 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Solar cell samples for TEM can be prepared by ion milling [27], wet polishing (tripod method) [24], or focused ion beam (FIB) [28]. Nevertheless, preparation for TEM samples is complex and time consuming.…”

Section: Sample Fabrication Characterization and Methods For Countinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microcrystalline silicon solar cells: effect of substrate temperature on cracks and their role in post‐oxidation

Python

Dominé

Söderström

et al. 2010

Progress in Photovoltaics

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Microcrystalline silicon (mc-Si:H) cells can reach efficiencies up to typically 10% and are usually incorporated in tandem micromorph devices. When cells are grown on rough substrates, ''cracks'' can appear in the mc-Si:H layers. Previous works have demonstrated that these cracks have mainly detrimental effects on the fill factor and open-circuit voltage, and act as bad diodes with a high reverse saturation current. In this paper, we clarify the nature of the cracks, their role in postoxidation processes, and indicate how their density can be reduced. Regular secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and local nano-SIMS measurements show that these cracks are prone to local post-oxidation and lead to apparent high oxygen content in the layer. Usually the number of cracks can be decreased with an appropriate modification of the substrate surface morphology, but then, the required light scattering effect is reduced due to a lower roughness. This study presents an alternative/complementary way to decrease the crack density by increasing the substrate temperature during deposition. These results, also obtained when performing numerical simulation of the growth process, are attributed to the enhanced surface diffusion of the adatoms at higher deposition temperature. We evaluate the cracks density by introducing a fast method to count cracks with good statistics over approximately 4000 mm of sample cross-section. This method is proven to be useful to quickly visualize the impact of substrate morphology on the density of cracks in microcrystalline and in micromorph devices, which is an important issue in the manufacturing process of modules.

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Section: Sample Fabrication Characterization and Methods For Countinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microcrystalline silicon solar cells: effect of substrate temperature on cracks and their role in post‐oxidation

Python

Dominé

Söderström

et al. 2010

Progress in Photovoltaics

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“…If the original structure of the sample is to be imaged, these layers must be thin relative to the thickness of the specimen. It is well known that amorphized surface zones form during ion milling, whose depth depends on ion energy and incidence angle (Barna et al, 1999;McCaffrey et al, 2001;Schuhrke et al, 1992). For the LAIB milled specimens, HRTEM images document that the amorphized zone of the specimen edge has a lateral width of $1 nm (Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Preparation of high‐quality ultrathin transmission electron microscopy specimens of a nanocrystalline metallic powder

Riedl

Gemming

Mickel

et al. 2011

Microscopy Res & Technique

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This article explores the achievable transmission electron microscopy specimen thickness and quality by using three different preparation methods in the case of a high-strength nanocrystalline Cu-Nb powder alloy. Low specimen thickness is essential for spatially resolved analyses of the grains in nanocrystalline materials. We have found that single-sided as well as double-sided low-angle Ar ion milling of the Cu-Nb powders embedded into epoxy resin produced wedge-shaped particles of very low thickness (<10 nm) near the edge. By means of a modified focused ion beam lift-out technique generating holes in the lamella interior large micrometer-sized electron-transparent regions were obtained. However, this lamella displayed a higher thickness at the rim of ≥30 nm. Limiting factors for the observed thicknesses are discussed including ion damage depths, backscattering, and surface roughness, which depend on ion type, energy, current density, and specimen motion. Finally, sections cut by ultramicrotomy at low stroke rate and low set thickness offered vast, several tens of square micrometers uniformly thin regions of ∼10-nm minimum thickness. As major drawbacks, we have detected a thin coating on the sections consisting of epoxy deployed as the embedding material and considerable nanoscale thickness variations.

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“…Milling at low currents can remove the layer of damage left by high-energy ions. The reduction of sidewall damage can be achieved also by low-kV FIB polishing at the final step (Barna et al, 1999;Boxleitner et al, 2001;Ishitani et al, 2004;Kato, 2004; Lipp et al, 1995;Nebiker et al, 1997;Wang et al, 2005).…”

Section: The Fib-sample Interaction Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The FIB induced artifacts are described as morphological defects, crystal damage, uncontrolled Ga + implantation, amorphization, material redeposition, mixing of material, radiation damage, changes in surface geometry, and its electronic properties, etc. (Adams, 2006;Barber, 1993;Barna et al, 1999;Bever et al, 1992;Boxleitner et al, 2001;Brezna et al, 2003;Cairney and Munroe, 2003;Frey et al, 2003;Huang, 2004;Inkson et al, 2006;Ishitani et al, 1998Ishitani et al, , 2004McCaffrey et al, 2001;Nord et al, 2002;Perrey et al, 2004;Rajsiri et al, 2002;Reiner et al, 2004;Rubanov and Munroe, 2003Stanishevsky et al, 2002;Vetterli et al, 1995;Wang et al, 2005;Yabuuchi et al, 2004;Yu et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface damage induced by FIB milling and imaging of biological samples is controllable

Drobne

Milani

Lešer

et al. 2007

Microscopy Res & Technique

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Focused ion beam (FIB) techniques are among the most important tools for the nanostructuring of surfaces. We used the FIB/SEM (scanning electron microscope) for milling and imaging of digestive gland cells. The aim of our study was to document the interactions of FIB with the surface of the biological sample during FIB investigation, to identify the classes of artifacts, and to test procedures that could induce the quality of FIB milled sections by reducing the artifacts. The digestive gland cells were prepared for conventional SEM. During FIB/SEM operation we induced and enhanced artifacts. The results show that FIB operation on biological tissue affected the area of the sample where ion beam was rastering. We describe the FIB-induced surface major artifacts as a melting-like effect, sweating-like effect, morphological deformations, and gallium (Ga(+)) implantation. The FIB induced surface artifacts caused by incident Ga(+) ions were reduced by the application of a protective platinum strip on the surface exposed to the beam and by a suitable selection of operation protocol. We recommend the same sample preparation methods, FIB protocol for milling and imaging to be used also for other biological samples.

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TEM sample preparation by ion milling/amorphization

Cited by 98 publications

References 26 publications

Microcrystalline silicon solar cells: effect of substrate temperature on cracks and their role in post‐oxidation

Microcrystalline silicon solar cells: effect of substrate temperature on cracks and their role in post‐oxidation

Preparation of high‐quality ultrathin transmission electron microscopy specimens of a nanocrystalline metallic powder

Surface damage induced by FIB milling and imaging of biological samples is controllable

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