Liftout of high-quality thin sections of a perovskite oxide thin film using a xenon plasma focused ion beam microscope

MacLaren, I. , Nord, M., Jiao, C. and Yücelen, E. (2019) Liftout of high-quality thin sections of a perovskite oxide thin film using a xenon plasma focused ion beam microscope. Microscopy and Microanalysis, 25(1), pp. 115-118. (doi: 10.1017/S1431927618016239) (PMID:30696493)

Abstract

It is shown that a xenon plasma focused ion beam (FIB) microscope is an excellent tool for high-quality preparation of functional oxide thin films for atomic resolution electron microscopy. Samples may be prepared rapidly, at least as fast as those prepared using conventional gallium FIB. Moreover, the surface quality after 2 kV final polishing with the Xe beam is exceptional with only about 3 nm of amorphized surface present. The sample quality was of a suitably high quality to allow atomic resolution high-angle annular dark field imaging and integrated differential phase contrast without any further preparation, and the resulting images were good enough for quantitative evaluation of atomic positions to reveal the oxygen octahedral tilt pattern. This suggests that such xenon plasma FIB instruments may find widespread application in transmission electron microscope and scanning transmission electron microscope specimen preparation.

• Item Type: Articles
• Keywords: Aberration corrected stem, focused ion beam, liftout preparation, perovskite oxides, thin films.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Nord, Dr Magnus and MacLaren, Dr Ian
• Authors: MacLaren, I., Nord, M., Jiao, C., and Yücelen, E.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Journal Name: Microscopy and Microanalysis
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• ISSN: 1431-9276
• ISSN (Online): 1435-8115
• Published Online: 30 January 2019
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 Microscopy Society of America
• First Published: First published in Microscopy and Microanalysis 25(1):115-118
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
72251	1	A Focused Ion Beam Microscopy Facility for Advanced Materials Analysis	Ian Maclaren	Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)	EP/P001483/1	S&E P&A - PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY
65518	1	Fast Pixel Detectors: a paradigm shift in STEM imaging	Ian Maclaren	Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)	EP/M009963/1	S&E P&A - PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY