Argon milling for TEM specimen preparation

Argon Milling for TEM Specimen Preparation
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Ar milling can be used to produce clean, wide viewing areas on TEM specimen and thin the specimen to electron transparency. Note that Ar milling can also be used to clean TEM specimens after FIB- and electropolishing-preparations.

Table 1281. Examples of argon (Ar) milling for TEM specimen preparation.

Materials	Voltage	Tilt angle	Milling system	Milling step	Reference
GaAs and Si	200-400 V	4 °	GentleMill	Final cleaning	[1]
GaAs and Si	1.5 kV	8 °	GentleMill	Coarse milling	[1]
Steels	4 kV	4 °	Gatan model 691 PIPS	Coarse milling	[1]
Steels	2 kV	3 °	Gatan model 691 PIPS	Final cleaning of FIB-prepared samples	[1]
GaAs and Si	500 V	15 °	GentleMill	Final cleaning of FIB-prepared samples	[1]

[1] J. Scott, F. T. Docherty, M. MacKenzie, W. Smith, B. Miller, C. L. Collins and A. J. Craven, Sample preparation for nanoanalytical electron microscopy using the FIB lift-out method and low energy ion milling, J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 26, 223 (2006).

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