• Applied Microscopy
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.199-202
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• 2015

A simple and novel transmission electron microscopy (TEM) sample preparation method for phase change nanowire is investigated. A $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ (GST) nanowire TEM sample was meticulously prepared using nanomanipulator and gas injection system in a field emission scanning electron microscopy for efficient and accurate TEM analysis. The process can minimize the damage during the TEM sample preparation of the nanowires, thus enabling the crystallographic analysis of as-grown GST nanowires without unexpected phase transition caused by e-beam heating.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.133-137
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• 2014

We suggest a facile transmission electron microscopy (TEM) specimen preparation method for the direct (polymer-free) transfer of layer-area graphene from Cu substrates to a TEM grid. The standard (polymer-based) method and direct transfer method were by TEM, high-resolution TEM, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The folds and crystalline particles were formed in a graphene specimen by the standard method, while the graphene specimen by the direct method with a new etchant solution exhibited clean and full coverage of the graphene surface, which reduced several wet chemical steps and accompanying mechanical stresses and avoided formation of the oxide metal.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.183-188
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• 2015

Due to the miniaturization of semiconductor devices, their crystal structure on the nanoscale must be analyzed. However, scanning electron microscope-electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) has a limitation of resolution in nanoscale and high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) can be used to analyze restrictive local structural information. In this study, three-dimensional (3D) automated crystal orientation and phase mapping using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (3D TEM-EBSD) was used to identify the crystal structure relationship between an epitaxially grown CdS interfacial layer and a $Cu(In_xGa_{x-1})Se_2$ (CIGS) solar cell layer. The 3D TEM-EBSD technique clearly defined the crystal orientation and phase of the epitaxially grown layers, making it useful for establishing the growth mechanism of functional nano-materials.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.50
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• pp.21.1-21.3
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• 2020

Sample preparation is significantly important to the high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) characterization of nanomaterials. However, many general organic solvents can dissolve the necessary organic polymer support layer in TEM grid, which causes it difficult to obtain high-quality samples of oil-soluble nanomaterials. In this study, a new sample preparation method for oil-soluble nanomaterials has been developed by using the sublimable material as a transition layer. Experiments also show that there is no damage to TEM grids and high-quality HRTEM images can be obtained via this method. This approach paves the way to applicable HRTEM sample preparation of oil-soluble nanomaterials.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.122-125
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• 2018

The focused ion beam (FIB) method is widely used to prepare specimens for observation by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which offers a wide variety of imaging and analytical techniques. TEM has played a significant role in material investigation. However, the FIB method induces amorphization due to bombardment with the high-energy gallium ($Ga^+$) ion beam. To solve this problem, electron beam induced deposition (EBID) is used to form a protective layer to prevent damage to the specimen surface. In this study, we introduce an optimized TEM specimen preparation procedure by comparing the EBID of carbon and tungsten as protective layers in FIB. The selection of appropriate EBID conditions for preparing specimens for TEM analysis is described in detail.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.289-294
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• 2002

ZnTe films have been grown on (100) GaAs substrate with two representative problems. The one is lattice mismatch, the other is thermal expansion coefficients mismatch of ZnTe /GaAs. It claims here, the relationship of film thickness and defects distribution with (100) ZnTe/GaAs using hot wall epitaxy (HWE) growth was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It analyzed on the two-sort side using TEM with cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) and high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM). Investigation into the nature and behavior of dislocations with dependence-thickness in (100) ZnTe/ (100) GaAs hetero-structures grown by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This defects range from interface to 0.7 $\mu\textrm{m}$ was high density, due to the large lattice mismatch and thermal expansion coefficients. The defects of low density was range 0.7$\mu\textrm{m}$~1.8$\mu\textrm{m}$. In the thicker range than 1.8$\mu\textrm{m}$ was measured hardly defects.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.167-169
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• 2016

Solder/electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) joint sample which is comprised of dissimilar materials with different mechanical properties has limited the level of success in preparing thin samples for transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This short technical note reports the operation parameters for ultramicrotomy of solder joint sample and TEM analysis results. The solder joint sample was successfully sliced to 50~70 nm thick lamellae at slicing speed of 0.8~1.2 mm/s using a boat-type $45^{\circ}$ diamond knife. Ultramicrotomy can be applied as a routine sample preparation technique for TEM analysis of solder joints.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.195-198
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• 2015

Gas-assisted etching (GAE) with focused ion beam (FIB) was applied to prepare plan-view specimens of Cu thin-layer on a silicon substrate for transmission electron microscopy (TEM). GAE using $XeF_2$ gas selectively etched the silicon substrate without volume loss of the Cu thin-layer. The plan-view specimen of the Cu thin film prepared by FIB milling with GAE was observed by scanning electron microscopy and $C_S$-corrected high-resolution TEM to estimate the size and microstructure of the TEM specimen. The GAE with FIB technique overcame various artifacts of conventional FIB milling technique such as bending, shrinking and non-uniform thickness of the TEM specimens. The Cu thin film was uniform in thickness and relatively larger in size despite of the thickness of <200 nm.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.189-194
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• 2015

Backside Ar ion milling technique for the preparation of cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) specimens, and backside-ion milling combined with focused ion beam (FIB) operation for electron holography were introduced in this paper. The backside Ar ion milling technique offers advantages in preparing cross-sectional specimens having thin, smooth and uniform surfaces with low surface damages. The back-side ion milling combined with the FIB technique could be used to observe the two-dimensional p-n junction profiles in semiconductors with the sample quality sufficient for an electron holography study. These techniques have useful applications for accurate TEM analysis of the microstructure of materials or electronic devices such as arrayed hole patterns, three-dimensional integrated circuits, and also relatively thick layers (> $1{\mu}m$).

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.49-53
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• 2018

A successful transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis is closely related to the preparation of the TEM specimen and should be followed by the suitable TEM specimen preparation depending on the purpose of analysis and the subject materials. In the case of the Si-based anode material, lithium atoms of formed Li silicide were removed due to ion beam and electron beam during TEM specimen preparation and TEM observation. To overcome the problem, we proposed a new technique to make a TEM specimen without the ion beam damage. In this study, two types of test specimens from the Si-based anode material of Li-ion battery were prepared by respectively adopting the only focused ion beam (FIB) method and the new FIB-ultramicrotome method. TEM analyses of two samples were conducted to compare the Ga ion damage of the test specimen.