Latest Solutions New Ion Beam Scanning Electron Microscope

Zeiss has recently announced the new Zeiss Crossbeam 550 Samplefab, a focused ion beam scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM) optimized for fully automated preparation of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) samples (lamellae).

Built for efficiency and throughput in the semiconductor lab, Zeiss Crossbeam 550 Samplefab provides recipe-based automation for the routine TEM sample preparation work of bulk milling, lift-out and thinning at any number of target points on the sample. The solution promises an automation yield of >90 % for processing lamellae from bulk to TEM grid without operator intervention. Automated checks allow human interventions to ensure no lamellae are lost during processing, driving lamella success rates towards 100 %, shares the company.

TEM imaging provides essential information for understanding semiconductor device defects and improving process yield. However, the accuracy of the data from TEM analysis is dependent upon producing high-quality lamellae accurately, repeatedly and with high throughput.

To address the growing industry need for TEM sample preparation, the company has built a dedicated FIB-SEM, the Zeiss Crossbeam 550 Samplefab. The focus is to offer the most robust automation available on the market today, allowing fully unsupervised operation of down to 100 nm thin lamellae with high accuracy and throughput, mentions the firm. The system’s user interface is completely new, designed for a rapid learning curve and intuitive operation by both novices and experts. With the new Crossbeam 550 Samplefab, customers can automatically process ten lamellae in under eight hours, starting from a bulk sample and ending with a thinned lamella ready for the TEM, adds the company.

Zeiss Crossbeam 550 Samplefab uses the Gemini 2 electron column, allowing the operator to observe the sample live with the SEM during FIB milling to achieve the highest final lamella quality and endpointing outcomes when thinner samples are required than what is provided by the automation.

The FIB column is extremely stable, and while it has an automated calibration routine, users report rarely needing to calibrate or align the system over multiple weeks, especially if it is working on routine processes. This dramatically reduces the operator effort, and the time spent setting up the tool prior to an automated run, opines the firm. What’s more, the workflow is so robust that dozens of lamellae can be created using a single probe tip, which only needs reshaping after a few days of heavy use. The tip can be sharpened with a simple reshaping operation that takes less than 30 minutes, and the needle can be reshaped multiple times before needing to be replaced; a new tip exchange takes only half an hour, explains the firm. This dramatically increases the productive uptime of the tool, and lowers the cost spent on consumables.

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