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Effect of gallium focused ion beam milling on preparation of aluminium thin foils
Author(s) -
UNOCIC K.A.,
MILLS M.J.,
DAEHN G.S.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2818.2010.03401.x
Subject(s) - gallium , focused ion beam , materials science , ion beam , aluminium , transmission electron microscopy , sample preparation , beam (structure) , ion , ion milling machine , thin film , interphase , nanotechnology , metallurgy , optics , chemistry , chromatography , physics , organic chemistry , layer (electronics) , biology , genetics
Summary Focussed ion beam milling has greatly extended the utility of the atom probe and transmission electron microscope because it enables sample preparation with a level of dimensional control never before possible. Using focussed ion beam it is possible to extract the samples from desired and very specific locations. The artefacts associated with this sample preparation method must also be fully understood. In this work, issues specifically relevant to the focussed ion beam milling of aluminium alloys are presented. After using the focussed ion beam as a sample preparation technique it is evident that gallium will concentrate in three areas of the sample: on the surface, on grain boundaries and at interphase boundaries. This work also shows that low‐energy Ar ion nanomilling is potentially quite effective for removing gallium implantation layers and gallium from the internal surfaces of aluminium thin foils.