Two‐In‐one sample preparation for plan‐VIew TEM

Abstract

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) sample preparation requires special skills, it is time consuming and costly, hence, an increase of the efficiency is of primary importance. This article describes a method that duplicates the yield of the conventional mechanical and ion beam preparation of plan-view TEM samples. As a modification of the usual procedures, instead of one two different samples are comprised in a single specimen. The two pre-cut slabs, one from each samples, are embedded side by side in the window of a 3 mm dia Ti disk and the specimen is thinned mechanically and by ion milling until perforation that occurs at the interface of the two different slabs. That, with proper implementation, provides acceptable size thin area for the TEM study of both samples. The suitability of the two-in-one method has been confirmed through examples.

Photoinduced processes of adsorbed and associated dye molecules in mesoporous titania coatings

“…Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopic (HRTEM) investigations of the titania samples were carried out by 300 kV JEOL 3010 HRTEM, with a point resolution of 0.17 nm. For TEM characterization, cross-sectional TEM (XTEM) samples of the TiO 2 -CTAB, TiO 2 -P123 and TiO 2 -PVP were prepared by mechanical and ion beam thinning techniques, as reported previously [41].…”

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.…”

Wafer-scale SiC rich nano-coating layer by Ar+ and Xe+ ion mixing

“…The samples for XTEM studies were prepared by applying the conventional procedure; embedding and mechanical polishing followed by Ar + -ion milling [16]. We used an additional "two-in-one" technique [17] so that pairs of samples were thinned in single specimens, simultaneously. XTEM investigations and EELS elemental mapping were carried out using a 300 kV JEOL 3010 High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (HRTEM) with a point resolution of 0.17 nm equipped with a GATAN Tridiem image filter.…”