Speaker
Description
The new technological improvement of all type of materials, including functional, semiconductors, micro-electro-mechanical, medical, needs a proper microstructure investigation from mm- up to nmscale. One of the most used techniques is the focused ion beam (FIB), with a Ga+ beam for materials removal and specimen preparation for much high resolution techniques such as (TEM, APT ,..etc ). However, the material removal rate of FIB is very limited and time consuming for most applications.
Hence, attaching a laser to cut faster into the FIB system is becoming a good strategy for rapid sitespecific samples preparation at large scale [1].
Zeiss Crossbeam new generation combines a femtosecond laser source in a FIB/SEM for higher accuracy and resolution imaging to enables the fastest workflows. In addition, to this, contamination issues of the SEM/FIB chamber are considered, for this an isolated laser chamber is designed to prevent the contamination of electron column and detectors. At the meantime, the crossbeam system is well integrated by guaranteeing an easy and accurate sample transfer between the SEM and laser chamber under vacuum.
In this talk we will explore the capabilities and workflows enabled with the Zeiss crossbeam laser using a short, pulsed femtosecond laser <300 fs to cut > 1 mm 3 of Si piece as an example in only 5 mins. The short pulses regime offers minimal to no artifacts from laser heat affected zone which reduces the thermal damaged happened with the laser and grant a better process control with less edges or curtaining. Thus, a direct visibility of the region of interest after laser preparation. Several examples will be shown providing the fastest time to results for cross-sectional analysis of deeply buried features at nanoscale resolutions.
References:
[1] Manuel Pfeifenberger Desertation “ Implementation of femtosecond laser processing for materials testing and research “
