We have a Hitachi Arblade5000 broad ion beam milling system. I found that when we want to mill at the edges of a cross section, it will not mill properly. No matter how we do the sample alignment. Basically, at the edge, the ion beam will interact with the sample edge and also the free space.
Are there any reasons for this phenomena?
I am not clear on what you are trying to accomplish. It might help to include a diagram.
We have a Fischione broad-beam ion mill. We had looked at mills by Hitachi and JEOL. They are all similar.
All these mills have a broad beam. They are not to be confused with a focused ion beam. Therefore, all parts of the sample that are in the path of the beam will be milled. It will be hard to retain sharp edges. They will be among the first structures to go.
We normally seek to planarize embedded samples and to remove the damage from mechanical polishing. We tend to use a low incidence angle and we rotate the sample.
We also try to prepare or clean up sections. That requires a mask to define and protect the leading edge of the sample. We are still developing our skills in that art.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Filing