I am trying to recreate a device cross-section such as the images published by Gratzel's group (attached below). My issue is uncontrollable charging on the surface of the perovskite which I have heard is a common issue with this material. I have tried grounding the sample with Cu tape, and using low (7 kV) excitation energy, but is there anything else that I can do to help optimize these image?
I agree with Joachim, conductive metal coating reduce charge accumulation and you can get clear images.
you need to sputter with a conductive metal to reduce the charge accumulation
I've tried a quick carbon sputter, but perhaps gold would work better?
The image shown is very high magnification. Carbon coat would not give good images. It may also be that gold would be too coarse grained at this mag. Sputtering with Pt, Pt/Pd, Cr, or Ir may give you a smoother image. What type of SEM are you using? - can you post your pictures so far with the data bar, so we can see what sort of problems you are having? 7kV may still be too high. If you want to image uncoated then I would be using beam deceleration methods to go down to 100-200V. Don't forget that reducing probe currents will also help to reduce charge build up.
Do two things; first contact your sample with the silver paste to minimize the charging issue or sputter a thin gold layer, and second use low accelerating voltage preferably 5 kV.
7 kV is still too high for not conductive sample. You should try at least below 3 kV. As the sample is a cross section, applying beam deceleration might not be easy.
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