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An in situ Method for Preserving Buried Voids and Cracks During TEM Sample Preparation using FIB

The focused ion beam (FIB) technique has become a widely-employed method for transmission electron microscope (TEM) sample preparation due to its site-specific and versatile nature [1-2]. Advantages, disadvantages and methods/strategies on overcoming difficulties related to this technique has been extensively studies over past 15+years [3]. Nevertheless, commonly-observed crack and hole enlargements or edge damage during the final thinning step are often left unattended due to the experimental difficulty in eliminating these problems, although it is critical for precise TEM microstructural analysis. We propose a method called “in situ filling” to overcome this drawback of FIB sample preparation for TEM analysis. With this method, the crack and hole edges are well-protected from the damage and enlargement during FIB thinning. This method and its strategy can be applied broadly to most of materials using FIB for TEM sample preparation.