Brief Introduction of FIB

The Focused Ion Beam (FIB) tool can cut away (mill) material from a defined area with dimensions typically in square microns or deposit material onto it. Milling is achieved by accelerating concentrated gallium ions to a specific site, which etches off any exposed material, leaving a very clean hole or surface. By introducing gases or an organic gas compound, the FIB can selectively etch one material much faster than surrounding materials, or deposit a metal or oxide. The FIB is used for such tasks as site-specific cross-sectioning for interfacial microstructure studies, preferential removal of certain metals or oxides, semiconductor device editing or modifications, site-specific TEM sample preparation, and grain imaging.

The Focused Ion Beam (FIB) system uses a Ga + ion beam to raster over the surface of a sample in a similar way as the electron beam in a scanning electron microscope. The generated secondary electrons (or ions) are collected to form an image of the surface of the sample.

The ion beam allows the milling of small holes in the sample at well localized sites, so that cross-sectional images of the structure can be obtained or that modifications in the structures can be made.