Method and equipment for specimen preparation
AssigneeJEOL Ltd.
InventorTadanori Yoshioka
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Method and equipment permitting one to easily prepare a good thin-film specimen adapted for observation are offered. The equipment has an ion gun tilted left and right repeatedly to etch a specimen material by an electron beam tilted left and right by 1.5° about the z-axis. Then, the ion gun is tilted left and right plural times to ion etch the specimen material. Since a portion of the specimen material is especially heavily etched, a through-hole is formed in the specimen material. A thin film having a thickness of about 100 Å is formed around the through-hole. This thickness is adapted for TEM (transmission electron microscope) observation.
Claims18
A method of preparing a specimen, comprising the steps of:
- placing a shielding material over a specimen material to form a non-irradiated surface portion and irradiated surface portions on the specimen material, the irradiated surface portions being located around the non-irradiated surface portion said shielding material being shaped like a belt, ribbon, or tape, said shielding material being placed over the specimen material;
- and
- directing an ion beam relative to said non-irradiated surface portion at the shielding material and at the specimen material from different directions to etch said irradiated surface portions while leaving said non-irradiated surface portion unetched, said ion beam being directed at the shielding material and at the specimen material obliquely relative to said non-irradiated surface portion from the left side of the shielding material or from directly at the shielding material, said ion beam being also directed at the shielding material and at the specimen material obliquely relative to said non-irradiated surface portion from the right side of the shielding material,
- wherein the directions in which the ion beam is directed are set in such a way as to form a thin-film specimen having a thickness which decreases in going away from said non-irradiated surface portion.
A method of preparing a thin film specimen by processing a parent specimen material by an ion beam, said method comprising the steps of:
- placing a shielding material shaped like a belt, ribbon, or tape substantially vertically over the parent material to form a non-irradiated surface portion on the parent material;
- and
- directing an ion beam at the shielding material and at the parent material from above the shielding material to etch portions of the parent material that are located on opposite sides of said non-irradiated surface portion.
Specimen preparation equipment for preparing a thin-film specimen by processing a specimen material by an ion beam, said specimen preparation equipment comprising:
- a shielding material shaped like a belt, ribbon, or tape and placed substantially over the specimen material to form a non-irradiated surface portion and irradiated surface portions on the specimen material, the irradiated surface portions being located on opposite sides of the non-irradiated surface portion;
- means for directing an ion beam at a left side surface of the shielding material and at the specimen material obliquely relative to the non-irradiated surface portion from the left side of the shielding material;
- and
- means for directing an ion beam at a right side surface of the shielding material and at the specimen material obliquely relative to the non-irradiated surface portion from the right side of the shielding material,
- wherein directions in which said ion beams are directed are so set as to form a thin-film specimen which becomes thinner in going away from said non-irradiated surface portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.