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Convenient Preparation of High-Quality Specimens for Annealing Experiments in the Transmission Electron Microscope

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2014

Martial Duchamp ,
Qiang Xu  and
Rafal E Dunin-Borkowski Open the ORCID record for Rafal E Dunin-Borkowski [Opens in a new window]
Martial Duchamp*
Affiliation:
Ernst Ruska-Center for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons (ER-C) and Peter Grünberg Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52428 Jülich, Germany
Qiang Xu
Affiliation:
DENSsolutions, 2628XH Delft, The Netherlands Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, 2628CJ Delft, The Netherlands
Rafal E Dunin-Borkowski
Affiliation:
Ernst Ruska-Center for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons (ER-C) and Peter Grünberg Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52428 Jülich, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. martial.duchamp@gmail.com
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Abstract

A procedure based on focused ion beam milling and in situ lift-out is introduced for the preparation of high-quality specimens for in situ annealing experiments in the transmission electron microscope. The procedure allows an electron-transparent lamella to be cleaned directly on a heating chip using a low ion energy and back-side milling in order to minimize redeposition and damage. The approach is illustrated through the preparation of an Al–Mn–Fe complex metallic alloy specimen.

Keywords

transmission electron microscopyspecimen preparationfocused ion beam millingin situ annealing
Type
Technology and Software Development
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 20 , Issue 6 , December 2014 , pp. 1638 - 1645
Copyright
© Microscopy Society of America 2014 

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