Cross-Sectional TEM Specimen Preparation for W/B4C Multilayer Sample Using FIB: A Recent Study

With the recent introduction of a cross-beam scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/focused-ion-beam (FIB) system, it is now possible to create a cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) specimen of a thin film multilayer sample.

The specimen lift-out technique was demonstrated using a 300 layer pair thin-film multilayer sample of W/B4C, which took much less time than the conventional cross-sectional sample preparation technique. To obtain a large area electron transparent sample, the FIB sample is followed by Ar+ ion polishing at 2 kV with grazing incident. A transmission electron microscope was used to examine the prepared cross-sectional sample.