Measurement and endpointing of sample thickness

• Main Authors: MORIARTY MICHAEL, PETERSON BRENNAN, YOUNG RICHARD J, SCHAMPERS RUDOLF JOHANNES PETER GERARDUS
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 10.11.2015
• Subjects: ARRANGEMENTS FOR MEASURING TWO OR MORE VARIABLES NOT COVEREDIN A SINGLE OTHER SUBCLASS; BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS; ELECTRICITY; GAMMA RAY OR X-RAY MICROSCOPES; INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; IRRADIATION DEVICES; MEASURING; MEASURING NOT SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR A SPECIFIC VARIABLE; MEASURING OR TESTING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; NUCLEAR ENGINEERING; NUCLEAR PHYSICS; PHYSICS; TARIFF METERING APPARATUS; TECHNIQUES FOR HANDLING PARTICLES OR IONISING RADIATION NOTOTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; TESTING

A method for Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) sample creation. The use of a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)-Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM) detector in the dual-beam focused ion beam (FIB)/SEM allows a sample to be thinned using the FIB, while the STEM signal is used to monitor sample thickness. A preferred embodiment of the present invention can measure the thickness of or create TEM and STEM samples by using a precise endpoint detection method. Preferred embodiments also enable automatic endpointing during TEM lamella creation and provide users with direct feedback on sample thickness during manual thinning. Preferred embodiments of the present invention thus provide methods for endpointing sample thinning and methods to partially or fully automate endpointing.