To address customer requests and to improve the “mask and mill” process for our plasma FIB users, TESCAN has updated the TRUE X-Sectioning kit with an expanded range of mask sizes and fully integrated operation, including guided workflows, within the TESCAN’s Essence GUI.
High-current plasma FIB systems are now indispensable in both the semiconductor industry and in materials research for improving material removal rates and the final surface quality of cross sections or 3D tomography samples. Unfortunately, plasma FIB milling can also produce ripple artifacts, which occur as terrace structures in the resulting cross section. The presence of such artifacts can make it more difficult to identify a defect or other features. TESCAN’s TRUE X-Sectioning utilizes a masking principle that was first implemented on broad ion beam milling systems, to provide a time-saving method for managing beam tails and suppressing terrace artifacts — without sacrificing the high beam current advantage of plasma FIB.
This latest release of TRUE X-Sectioning provides improvements over the original release. New, larger pre-cut silicon masks have been added to address customer requests for mask sizes that match the plasma FIB’s largest field of view, 1 mm. The step-by-step wizard, which guides users through the complete TESCAN TRUE X-Sectioning workflow — mask lift-out from the kit, placement on the sample, milling and mask removal from the sample — is now integrated in TESCAN’s Essence GUI. Masks can also be used to protect surface features and assure optimal surface quality for 3D tomography tasks. To achieve the ultimate cross-section surface quality, TRUE X-Sectioning can be combined with the TESCAN Rocking Stage to address any remaining curtaining.
Learn more about the upgraded TRUE X-Sectioning here.
