Open AccessCombined Focused Ion Beam-Ultramicrotomy Method for TEM Specimen Preparation of Porous Fine-Grained Materials
Author(s) -
Kenta K. Ohtaki,
H. A. Ishii,
J. P. Bradley
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
microscopy and microanalysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.521
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1435-8115
pISSN - 1431-9276
DOI - 10.1017/s1431927619015186
Subject(s) - focused ion beam , materials science , transmission electron microscopy , porosity , ion beam , composite material , beam (structure) , ion , nanotechnology , optics , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry
A new transmission electron microscopy (TEM) specimen preparation method that utilizes a combination of focused ion beam (FIB) methods and ultramicrotomy is demonstrated. This combined method retains the benefit of site-specific sampling by FIB but eliminates ion beam-induced damage except at specimen edges and allows recovery of many consecutive sections. It is best applied to porous and/or fine-grained materials that are amenable to ultramicrotomy but are located in bulk samples that are not. The method is ideal for unique samples from which every specimen is precious, and we demonstrate its utility on fine-grained material from the one-of-a-kind Paris meteorite. Compared with a specimen prepared by conventional FIB methods, the final sections are uniformly thin and free from re-deposition and curtaining artifacts common in FIB specimens prepared from porous, heterogeneous samples.