Specimen Temperature-Increase Considerations During FIB Milling
THE MICROSCOPE
2015, Volume 63:1, pp. 3–10
DOI
https://doi.org/10.59082/DRQA9333
AUTHOR
Jian Li and Pei Liu
ABSTRACT
Focused ion beam (FIB) has become an emerging star in microscopical analyses, especially in materials research, and its applications, including ion beam sectioning and site-specific transmission electron microscopy (TEM) specimen preparation, provide valuable subsurface information on morphology, chemical composition profile and crystallographic orientation relationships. However, one of the ongoing concerns is the specimen heating during Ga ion beam milling that can produce unwanted artifacts during FIB work. Theoretical calculations of maximum specimen temperature increase noted in literature are mostly based on two assumptions: a primary ion beam implant into a substrate of infinite size and steady-state heat dissipation in substrates. There has been no study to assess temperature increase during TEM specimen preparation, especially during the final stage of ion beam thinning, where specimen heat transfer becomes one-dimensional. Assessing temperature increase in FIB specimen-preparation process is of paramount importance, especially for low temperature alloys, because phase transformation and precipitation can happen at a relatively low temperature.