We have a precision ion polishing system PIPS II from GATAN for TEM thinning, can we modify the operating parameters and sample stage to use the PIPS II system for cross sectioning/polishing broader areas for SEM/EBSD applications? Also Can we ion mill samples which are mounted in cold mount or epoxy after the mechanical polishing?
Dear Sherin,
- it depends on the material hardness - may be yes, in my case of experience it was "no".
- If you have hard inclusions in soft matrix - "no" because of "comet tail" relief.
- preparing a sample for TEM makes very small samle of 1 -10 mkm field for observation, whereas for EBSD a scale of 100 - 200 mkm is the best from statistical point of view.
- due to the same reason it is not suitable to ion mill after embedding. The surface of metal goes down, but the epoxy - no.
- the beam for TEM is focused and it is time consuming to work on a big fields with low energy.
Advantages? Are there any? As you can see there are much more disadvantages.
But if you have a good TEM sample already, you can try to do t-EBSD.
And I heard there is a special equipment for usual EBSD preparation from GATAN.
Please check.
I think preparing the samples for EBSD using PIPS II should not be a problem, but I would suggest to avoid mounted samples.
You would have to do some trials with the settings of the ion miller, some papers in which Broad Beam Argon Ion milling is used for EBSD:
Article Large Volume Serial Sectioning Tomography by Xe Plasma FIB D...
Article Broad Ion Beam Serial Section Tomography
Article Large Area 3D Structural Characterization by Serial Sectioni...
Hard shadow mask with skillful adjustment of ion mill parameters should work just fine, but not sure about mounted samples - resulting polished edge would be at the angle to the surface of the sample....
Valery Ray Can you please share some more information about the sample mount modification , hard shadow mask, Ar+ gun parameters etc.
Dear Sherin,
Google "hard mask ion mill cross section" and similar keywords for general information about the technique. Please contact me directly if you would like a quote for design of sample holder modifications and process development consulting for your specific project.
Valery
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