Dear Hussein Hamieh , there are several methods you can use, some will be more appropriate than other depending on the kind and size of your sample.

If your substrate is glass and the polymer layer thin and brittle you can try breaking a piece of your sample, then you could observe the fracture with the SEM. Bear in mind that glass and most polymers are not conductive and that could cause charge accumulation on top of these parts, so a thin conductive coat would be necessary or if available, you could use a localized nitrogren beam to remove the charge.

Instead of breaking the sample you could saw it by means of a diamond disk saw, (or a laser beam, or a water jet) and then you would need to polish the cross-section with sand papers or with a polishing machine. You still have the glass and polymer layers, and the the above said would be true here too (conductive coat or any other way to remove charge). Note that the polishing process can be applied on one of the sample´s edges without needing to cut the sample before.

With samples thin enough you could use a FIB (Focused Ion Beam). This technique is often used for obtaining lamellas (very thin slices) for TEM but the technique can also be applied to cross-sections of small samples (probably it is not the best method to cut a 1mm thik glass slide with some layers on top... may be it could be applied just on the copper and polymer layer only if they are very thin. Once more, the charge should be drained from the non-conductive layers to get a good SEM image.

Hope it helps.

Manuel Gómez Thank you for your answer, I will try.

Dear all, microtoming is the process through which samples for SEM are prepared. Normally, the instrument is supplied with a unit for that. Cryo-microtoming is another option for flexible materials to avoid distorsion while cutting. Please check the following documents. My Regards

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344034612_Ultra-Microtome_for_the_Preparation_of_TEM_Specimens_from_Battery_Cathodes

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-13348-6

https://doi.org/10.1111/jmi.12244

Hussein Hamieh

Be aware what microtoming does to a monodisperse sample. See my answer (June 25, 2019) in: https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_to_do_Particle_Size_Distribution_of_very_small_particles

and:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/I-get-an-oxide-with-small-particle-size-of-less-than-05-nm-measured-by-TEM-Is-it-usuel-and-are-there-any-related-documents

Dear Hussein ;

Please see the links below:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_can_I_make_a_cross_sectional_cut_on_polymeric_thin_film_samples_for_SEM_view.

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Can_I_use_glass_as_substrate_to_observe_SEM_sample.

With my best regards

Hi, I think using a microtome is probably a bit of an overkill (unless you have one available and a person to help you who knows how to do it. Also the material is probably too hard, it is usually for polymers not the substrate). Sounds stupid maybe but how about just dropping it (in a controlled way) then you get some pieces and can measure the edge.