FEI Helios NanoLab 600i Focussed Ion Beam

The Focused Ion Bean (FIB) is a dual-beam system, meaning it has both an electron beam and an ion beam. It can therefore be used for high-resolution imaging (as in a SEM) and also as a tool to machine micron-scale test pieces into the surface of a sample.

It does this by bombardment with high-energy gallium ions, removing material via sputtering in a pattern defined by the user.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Schottky thermal field-emission electron gun for high-resolution imaging

• Gallium ion source for milling, e.g. cantilevers for bend-testing, pillars for compression

• Large voltage range and probe current: Electron-bean: 200V - 30 kV, 0.7 pA - 22 nA; Ion-beam: 500V - 30 kV, 0.1 pA - 65 nA

• High precision 5-axes motorised stage, including the ability to tilt from -10° to +60°.

MRF is part of the National Nuclear User Facility (NNUF) and the Sir Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials.

www.ccfe.ac.uk/mrf.aspx

MRF18.001

Array of micro-cantilever specimens in irradiated/unirradiated grain of Fe12%Cr.

Using the FIB, large arrays of cantilevers can be milled into the surface of samples. These can then be tested using the nanoindenter to extract material properties such as Young’s modulus, facture toughness and yield strength.

Fe lamella during thinning of four regions. Imaged using ion-beam.

With precise ion-beam milling the FIB can be used to thin sections of samples down to electron transparency (˜150 nm, depending on the material). They can then be transferred to a Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) for microstructural characterisation at resolutions reaching the atomic-scale.