Overview

The basic operating principle of an FIB system is similar to that of scanning electron microscopy, the major difference being the use of a gallium ion beam instead of an electron beam The beam is raster scanned over the sample, which is mounted in a vacuum chamber at pressures of approximately 5 x 10 6 mbar When the beam strikes the sample, secondary electrons and secondary ions are emitted from its surface The electron or ion intensity is monitored and used to generate an image of the surface Secondary electrons are generated in much greater quantities than ions and provide images of better quality and resolution consequently the secondary electron mode is used for most imaging applications

• Milling Ion beams can be used to remove material from the surface of the sample This process, called milling, is a major advantage of FIB as much of the constructional analysis and failure analysis of semiconductor devices is performed
on cross sections
• Deposition FIB can also be used to deposit metals such as platinum and insulators such as silicon oxide

Main Applications
• Imaging, Cross section Imaging
• Patterning and prototyping
• TEM Specimen preparation
• 3D slice and view imaging
• 3D EDS and EBSD analysis