Introduction to Focused Ion Beam in Materials Science

Speaker: Jiri Dluhos, Product Manager  - Materials Science, TESCAN ORSAY HOLDING, a.s.

The high-resolution analytical scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has become an essential tool for modern materials research and development. The SEM provides a focused beam of electrons and gives us high resolution information about the material’s surface. We can study the surface morphology or  atomic number contrast of different materials, based on the type of electron signal that we use for imaging. We can also get compositional information utilizing the characteristic x-ray radiation from the interaction with the electron beam with the atoms in sample, which we can detect or use in spectroscopy.

One of the strengths but also a limitation of the SEM-based techniques is that it is a non-destructive for most of the samples, and the analytical information is achieved only from the sample surface and limited by the interaction volume of the beam. In 1988 the founders of Orsay Physics attached the focused ion beam (FIB) onto SEM system, building the first FIB-SEM system [1]. Using the ion beam instead of electron beam, opens the world of new applications not only for materials science. The ions are very massive as compared to electrons and so they sputter away material and allow ion beam milling in very specific areas of the sample and or in patterns to fabricate tiny objects.

An overview of the basics of FIB-SEM technology and recent development and applications in materials science.