FIB milling is suitable method for thin films

Thanks, for the detailed explaination. but in this case, the FIB is unavailable, so i have to find a another way to get a cross section picture of alumina scale which was formed on (Ni,Pt)Al coating. Welcome to share some more thoughts and ideas~

Dr.Feliu, I read your paper, it's very interesting to analyse the sulfur effect in the out layer and inner layer of the oxide scale by using XPS and argon ion bombardment.

I also met the same problem, my coating was contaminted by sulfur because the pt layer i used was deposited by eletroplating in a sulfate bath, Can I use XPS to analysis the sulfur effect inside the oxide scale and also inside the coating,

the Sulfur content is very low, below 0.1 wt%, and S spectrum peaks is overlayed by Pt peaks so i can't use Spectroscope.

Appreciate your response and

Best regards

Dr.Feliu, thanks for your dedicated and responsible reply ,

I didn't make that clear, what I was using is X Ray Fluorescence Spectroscope instead of XPS. I thought it was more sensitive.

If you see the attachment, there is a small overlap between Pt, Mo and S peaks, so I can't tell wether my speciments were contaminated by S or other impurities.

I will try to use your method to have a try, if there will be any break through, I will update this question. Thanks again.

Best regards~

Thanks, Dr. Klemm

I know little things about the ion beam slop cutting technique, is it the technique usually used in TEM specimens preparation? Can it been used to show the cross section morphology of the aluminium oxide scale?

I try to download the paper, but we didn't buy the database. Can I ask for a PDF copy of that paper?

Thanks again.