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US 6,786,978 B2Granted
Mass production of cross-section TEM samples by focused ion beam deposition and anisotropic etching
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsLancy Tsung, Adolfo Anciso
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of preparing a TEM sample. A focused ion beam is used to deposit a mask on the material to be sampled. Reactive ion etching removes material not protected by the mask, leaving a wall thin enough to be imaged by TEM.
Claims6
An integrated sample holder for a TEM sample, comprising:
- a base of a semiconductor material, having a top surface, a substantially flat bottom surface area sized to engage a TEM double tilt holder,
- a TEM sample, extending upward from the base, having an upper surface and opposing, substantially parallel sidewalls, and
- a metallic layer disposed on the upper surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.