“H-Bar Lift-Out” and “Plan-View Lift-Out”: Robust, Re-thinnable FIB-TEM Preparation for Ex-Situ Cross-Sectional and Plan-View FIB Specimen Preparation

Abstract Cross-sectional style transmission electron microscopy (TEM) sample preparation techniques by DualBeam (SEM/FIB) systems are widely used in both laboratory and manufacturing lines with either in-situ or ex-situ lift out methods. By contrast, however, the plan view TEM sample has only been prepared in the laboratory environment, and only after breaking the wafer. This paper introduces a novel methodology for in-line, plan view TEM sample preparation at the 300mm wafer level that does not require breaking the wafer. It also presents the benefit of the technique on electrically short defects. The methodology of thin lamella TEM sample preparation for plan view work in two different tool configurations is also presented. The detailed procedure of thin lamella sample preparation is also described. In-line, full wafer plan view (S)TEM provides a quick turn around solution for defect analysis in the manufacturing line.

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Tem Specimen Preparation for Display Materials of Vacuum Fluorescent Displays

Microscopy and Microanalysis ◽

10.1017/s1431927600024478 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 4 (S2) ◽

pp. 870-871

Author(s):

T. Dolukhanyan ◽

C. Sung ◽

S. Ahn ◽

J. Lee

Keyword(s):

Bulk Material ◽

Low Cost ◽

High Yield ◽

Specimen Preparation ◽

List Type ◽

Ion Milling ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Preparation Methods ◽

Plan View ◽

Submicron Scale

Further development of Vacuum Fluorescent Displays (Fig.l) for low cost production and high yield requires investigation of all the components on a submicron scale at various processing stages.A variety of specimen preparation methods have been used for making different types of high quality cross-sectional and plan-view TEM specimens from:1.Initial phosphor materials - ZnCdS powders admixed with conducting powder of ln2O3;2.In2O3 mixed ZnCdS phosphor layers of ready-made working VFD;3.W - filament cathodes coated with (Ba,Sr,Ca) oxides.Rapid sharing of results.Group 1 specimens were made both by direct dispersion of phosphor powder particles on the carbon coated copper grid from acetone diluted powder suspension, and by preparation of cured bulk material from the powder using Gatan G-l epoxy, followed by cutting, grinding-dimpling and final ion milling in Gatan DuoMill 600 (Fig.2).

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A Method for Directly Correlating Site-Specific Cross-Sectional and Plan-View Transmission Electron Microscopy of Individual Nanostructures

Microscopy and Microanalysis ◽

10.1017/s1431927612013517 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 18 (6) ◽

pp. 1410-1418 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Daniel K. Schreiber ◽

Praneet Adusumilli ◽

Eric R. Hemesath ◽

David N. Seidman ◽

Amanda K. Petford-Long ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽

Region Of Interest ◽

Ex Situ ◽

3D Analysis ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Plan View ◽

Site Specific ◽

Dual Beam ◽

Transmission Electron

AbstractA sample preparation method is described for enabling direct correlation of site-specific plan-view and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis of individual nanostructures by employing a dual-beam focused-ion beam (FIB) microscope. This technique is demonstrated using Si nanowires dispersed on a TEM sample support (lacey carbon or Si-nitride). Individual nanowires are first imaged in the plan-view orientation to identify a region of interest; in this case, impurity atoms distributed at crystalline defects that require further investigation in the cross-sectional orientation. Subsequently, the region of interest is capped with a series of ex situ and in situ deposited layers to protect the nanowire and facilitate site-specific lift-out and cross-sectioning using a dual-beam FIB microscope. The lift-out specimen is thinned to electron transparency with site-specific positioning to within ∼200 nm of a target position along the length of the nanowire. Using the described technique, it is possible to produce correlated plan-view and cross-sectional view lattice-resolved TEM images that enable a quasi-3D analysis of crystalline defect structures in a specific nanowire. While the current study is focused on nanowires, the procedure described herein is general for any electron-transparent sample and is broadly applicable for many nanostructures, such as nanowires, nanoparticles, patterned thin films, and devices.

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Plan-view TEM of planar interfaces

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100174758 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (4) ◽

pp. 324-325

Author(s):

V.P. Dravid ◽

M.R. Notis ◽

C.E. Lyman ◽

A. Revcolevschi

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽

Electron Beam ◽

Electronic Materials ◽

Specimen Preparation ◽

Specific Information ◽

Interface Area ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Plan View ◽

Transmission Electron

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), incorporating imaging, diffraction and spectrometry has contributed significantly to the understanding of the structure of crystalline interfaces. Traditionally, planar interfaces are investigated using cross-sectional views (electron beam parallel to the interface) of the specimen. However, plan-view TEM (PVTEM) has recently emerged as a viable and supplementary technique to cross-sectional TEM (XTEM). PVTEM enjoys certain definite advantages over XTEM. One important consideration is that the interface in a PV specimen is buried (sandwiched between two crystals) and is expected to be free of artefacts induced by specimen preparation procedures. Moreover, many multilayer electronic materials are amenable to PVTEM because they can be easily backthinned to electron transparency with virtually no damage to the internal interfaces. PV specimens clearly contain much larger interface area than XTEM specimens, which may be of great significance when statistics are considered. Apart from these considerations PVTEM studies can also offer specific information about the interface not always possible in XTEM. In this brief communication we report some of our results on imaging, diffraction and spectrometry of interfaces obtained by viewing the interfaces in the PV mode.

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Diffraction from interfaces

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100121557 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 50 (1) ◽

pp. 230-231

Author(s):

D.J. Eaglesham

Keyword(s):

Cross Section ◽

Coincident Site Lattice ◽

Interface Structure ◽

Field Of View ◽

Specimen Preparation ◽

Small Field ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Plan View ◽

Site Lattice ◽

Small Field Of View

A wide variety of approaches have been used to study diffraction from interfaces and thereby gain information on the structure or chemistry at the interface. In this paper the various techniques will be reviewed and a few examples will be used to illustrate the methods.Techniques for studying interfaces can be broadly divided into cross-section and plan-view approaches, and further classified according to whether the information to be extracted lies on the coincident site lattice or at some intermediate position (i.e. whether diffraction will determine a rigid body shift or a full reconstructed interface structure). While cross-section diffraction studies have been shown to be extremely powerful in elucidating a number of problems, we will concentrate here on plan-view methods. The reasoning for this is that cross-section diffraction retains many of the drawbacks to cross-sectional HREM (small field of view, indeterminate averaging and above all increased specimen preparation damage) and has substantially reduced signal, whereas plan-view diffraction can give us access to unique information on both local and long-range variations in the interface.

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Preparation of plan view and cross-sectional specimens for TEM

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100149362 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 51 ◽

pp. 706-707

Author(s):

Peter J Goodhew

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Ion Beam ◽

Specimen Preparation ◽

Specimen Thickness ◽

Success Rates ◽

Thin Sample ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

New Techniques ◽

Plan View ◽

The 1960S

The preparation of thin specimens remains one of the most important aspects of electron microscopy. Over the forty years in which materials TEM has been practised the rate of introduction of radically new techniques has been very low. In the 1960s microscopists were using electropolishing, chemical polishing, mechanical polishing, ion beam thinning and ultramicrotomy, many of which are also covered in this symposium thirty years later. The last three decades have seen a process of refinement and automation so that success rates and areas of thin sample are both much higher in the 1990s than they were in the 1960s. However the preparation of good specimens still requires skill and an element of "art" remains. The increase in electron energy which helped microscopists to overcome limitations of specimen preparation in the 1970s has now (for very good reasons) stopped, so the basic specimen thickness requirements for standard microscopy are now stable.

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Assessment of Chemical Solution Synthesis and Properties of Gd2Zr2O7 Thin Films as Buffer Layers for Second-Generation High-Temperature Superconductor Wires

Journal of Materials Research ◽

10.1557/jmr.2005.0365 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 20 (11) ◽

pp. 2988-2996 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

T. Aytug ◽

M. Paranthaman ◽

K.J. Leonard ◽

H.Y. Zhai ◽

M.S. Bhuiyan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thin Films ◽

Critical Current ◽

Sol Gel ◽

Buffer Layers ◽

Ex Situ ◽

Zero Field ◽

Chemical Solution ◽

Solution Synthesis ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Plan View

Chemical solution processing of Gd2Zr2O7 (GZO) thin films via sol-gel and metalorganic decomposition (MOD) precursor routes have been studied on textured Ni-based tape substrates. Even though films processed by both techniques showed similar property characteristics, the MOD-derived samples developed a high degree of texture alignment at significantly lower temperatures. Both precursor chemistries resulted in exceptionally dense, pore-free, and smooth microstructures, reflected in the cross-sectional and plan-view high-resolution scanning and transmission electron microscopy studies. On the MOD GZO buffered Ni–3at.% W (Ni–W) substrates with additional CeO2/YSZ sputtered over layers, a 0.8-μm-thick YBa2Cu3O7−δ (YBCO) film, grown by an ex situ metalorganic trifluoroacetate precursor method, yielded critical current, Ic (77 K, self-field), of 100 A/cm width. Furthermore, using pulsed-laser deposited YBCO films, a zero-field superconducting critical current density, Jc (77 K), of 1 × 106 A/cm2 was demonstrated on an all-solution, simplified CeO2(MOD)/GZO(MOD)/Ni–W architecture. The present study establishes GZO buffers as a candidate material for low-cost, all-solution coated conductor fabrication.

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Chemical Vapor Deposited Tungsten Film on Molecular Layer Epitaxially-Grown GaAs and its Application to Low Resistivity Contact

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-573-175 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 573 ◽

Author(s):

Y. Oyama ◽

Y. Oshida ◽

J. Nishizawa ◽

F. Matsumoto ◽

P. Plotka

Keyword(s):

Contact Resistance ◽

Surface Treatment ◽

Molecular Layer ◽

Chemical Vapor ◽

Ex Situ ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Plan View ◽

Hrtem Observation ◽

Gaas Structure ◽

Photolithography Process

ABSTRACTW CVD process was caried out on molecular layer epitaxially-grown GaAs just after in-situ surface treatment under optimized AsH3 pressure followed by ex-situ photolithography process. The precursor for W CVD used is W(CO)6. The W/GaAs interface is analyzed using SIMS and RBS/channeling technique. Interface structure was directly observed by cross sectional HRTEM. Plan view HRTEM observation was also carried out. From these physical analyses, it is shown that the mixed layer at W/GaAs interface is estimated to be about 2–3 ML and that the deposited W layer is epitaxially aligned with underlying GaAs lattice. The contact resistance in W/GaAs is obtained by the transmission line measurements (TLM) of patterned W on heavily doped GaAs grown by (molecular layer epitaxy) MLE. The dependence of the contact resistance on the surface treatment prior to the W CVD is also studied. Barrier height of W/GaAs structure is measured by the temperature dependence of I-V characteristics. Contact resistance of non-alloyed structure achieved are 3 × 10−7 Ωcm2 for n-type GaAs:Te and below 5 ×10−8 Ωcm2 for p-type GaAs:C respectively.

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Investigation of III–V Nanowires by Plan-View Transmission Electron Microscopy: InN Case Study

Microscopy and Microanalysis ◽

10.1017/s1431927614013038 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 20 (5) ◽

pp. 1471-1478 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Esperanza Luna ◽

Javier Grandal ◽

Eva Gallardo ◽

José M. Calleja ◽

Miguel Á. Sánchez-García ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽

Strain Relaxation ◽

Milling Process ◽

Specimen Preparation ◽

Shell Layer ◽

Ion Milling ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Plan View ◽

Transmission Electron

AbstractWe discuss observations of InN nanowires (NWs) by plan-view high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The main difficulties arise from suitable methods available for plan-view specimen preparation. We explore different approaches and find that the best results are obtained using a refined preparation method based on the conventional procedure for plan-view TEM of thin films, specifically modified for the NW morphology. The fundamental aspects of such a preparation are the initial mechanical stabilization of the NWs and the minimization of the ion-milling process after dimpling the samples until perforation. The combined analysis by plan-view and cross-sectional TEM of the NWs allows determination of the degree of strain relaxation and reveals the formation of an unintentional shell layer (2–3-nm thick) around the InN NWs. The shell layer is composed of bcc In2O3 nanocrystals with a preferred orientation with respect to the wurtzite InN: In2O3 [111] || InN [0001] and In2O3 <110> || InN< $$ 11\bar 20 $$ >.

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Techniques of Insulator/Semiconductor Heterostructure Specimen Preparation

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-115-63 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 115 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

D. Bahnck ◽

J. L. Batstone ◽

Julia M. Phillips

Keyword(s):

Specimen Preparation ◽

Silicon Substrates ◽

Ion Milling ◽

Transmission Electron Microscopy Analysis ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Plan View ◽

Transmission Electron ◽

Electron Microscopy Analysis ◽

Microscopy Analysis ◽

Argon Ion

ABSTRACTTechniques for the preparation of specimens for Transmission Electron Microscopy analysis are described. Cross-sectional specimens of insulator/semiconductor heterostructures have been successfully prepared. The problem of differential thinning rates and interface amorphization during argon ion-milling have been overcome using low argon ion accelerating voltages and shallow angles of incidence. Techniques for preparation of plan view specimens include the preparation of silicon substrates for in-situ crystal growth in an ultrahigh vacuum Transmission Electron Microscope.

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