Features
High Milling Rate
The cross section milling rate*1 of the IM4000II is 500 µm/h or greater. It is effective for hard materials that conventionally require extended processing.
- *1
- The maximum milling depth in one hour for Si protruding 100 μm from the maskedge.
Specimen : Si wafer (2 mm thick)
Accelerating voltage : 6.0 kV (IM4000II)
Swing angle : ±30°
Milling time : 1 hour
When the swing angle during cross section milling changes, the corresponding processing width and depth change. The figure below shows the SEM images of a Si wafer after cross section milling. Processing conditions are the same as shown above except the swing angle has been reduced from ±30˚ to ±15˚. It is demonstrated that the processing depth is deeper than the above results and therefore very effective for rapid cross section preparation of specimens with a target structure far from the top surface.
Specimen : Si wafer (2 mm thick)
Accelerating voltage : 6.0 kV (IM4000II), 8.0 kV (ArBlade 5000)
Swing angle : ±15°
Milling time : 1 hour
Hybrid Milling
Cross section Milling
A pristine surface can be achieved by sputtering (milling) protruding parts of the specimen that extend beyond the maskedge. By irradiating the ion-beam parallel to the processed surface of the specimen, flat and smooth milling is possible even with complex materials of different compositions.
Main Uses
- Prepare a cross section specimen in a localized region of interest (ROI)
- Prepare a cross section specimen that is difficult to polish by other methods (composite materials, multi-layer interface, papers/films, etc.)
Flat-milling
In flat-milling, a wider area can be processed than in cross section milling via eccentricity of the ion-beam and rotating specimen center points. It is also possible to emphasize or reduce irregularities by changing the irradiation angle of the ion-beam in order to reveal crystal orientation and/or subtle compositional differences.
Main Uses
- Remove mechanical artifacts from the polishing process (maximum diameter of 50 mm x thickness of 25 mm)
- Remove the surface or upper layers of multilayer film
- Discriminate layers of the cross section for multilayer film (emphasizing irregularities)
- Preprocess large areas for EBSD (reducing irregularities)
