Electron microscopes today have remarkably high spatial resolution. While SEM imaging provides us information about the morphology and composition of the surface’s sample at the nanoscale, TEM imaging resolution is higher; it goes up to the atomic level and reveals information about the sample’s atomic arrangement and its morphology and chemical composition. However, since they image only one surface at a time, both the SEM and the TEM can only give us limited information about the 3D characteristics of the sample. “This is where the new Cryo-FIB-SEM comes in,” says Dr. Yafit Fleger. “Having both an electron beam and an ion beam, the Cryo-FIB-SEM makes it possible to repeatedly slice and scan a sample in a technique called slice-and-view. Then, with the help of cuttingedge software, we merge the images into a 3D model.” Dr. Fleger and Dr. Maria Tkachev, who is in charge of the FIB-SEM, recently organized a seminar attended by scientists all around the country so that they and their colleagues could learn how to use the imaging software for processing and merging data into a 3D image. In the semiconductor industry, a process called failure analysis is used to diagnose how and why failures occur in a device. “When a semiconductor component malfunctions, it can set in motion a series of failures throughout the device. If we use the TEM and the SEM alone, we can only view and analyze one slice at a time, which means we may well miss significant information. For example, looking at a specific slice, we may miss overheating that is occurring somewhere else in the component, or we may detect traces of a leakage but not see where it’s coming from. But using the Cryo-FIB-SEM’s slice-and-view technique, we can cut and view a component stepby-step, slice-by-slice and merge the images to create a 3D digital model. This allows us to map out the entire component and trace the failure to its source.” The Cryo-FIB-SEM It’s a 3DMaterial World 26
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDU2MA==