Fast TV-Rate CCD Cameras Allow For In-Situ Recording

By Bill Mollon and Ming Pan, Gatan

We have all heard the quote “A picture is worth a thousand words” when describing how much information can really be represented by a single image. Many of you may have written and published pages of results all based sometimes on a single piece of important data such as an electron micrograph. Of course, if one image is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes, how much would 30 or more be worth? With the advent of better performing electronics and development of newer CCD technology Gatan is able to extend the famous saying and complete it with “but a movie tells the whole story”.....

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Application of the Gatan XuM in the investigation of a lunar dust particle surrogate, volcanic ash particles and a Bryozoan fossil

The Gatan X-ray Ultramicroscope, or XuM, is a high performance SEM-hosted X-Ray Microscope (XRM) that enables non-destructive imaging of the internal structure of samples. The system is interfaced to and integrated with the SEM host to provide an easy to use yet powerful x-ray facility with unique imaging capability suitable for both life and materials science applications......

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Computer-Controlled Polishing System for Preparing Multiple Pre-Fib TEM Specimen

By D. J. MacMahon Micron Technology, Inc., and E. Raz-Moyal, Gatan, Inc.

This article was published in the November 2007 issue (p. 38-39) of Microscopy Today.

Semiconductor manufacturers are increasingly turning to Transmission Electron Microscopes (TEMs) to monitor product yield and process control, analyze defects, and investigate interface layer morphology. To prepare TEM specimens, Focused Ion Beam (FIB) technology is an invaluable tool, yielding a standard milled TEM lamella approximately 15 μm wide, 5 μm deep and ~100 nm thick. Several techniques have been developed to extract these tiny objects from a large wafer and view it in the TEM. These techniques, including ex-situ lift-out, H-bar, and in-situ lift-out, have different advantages and disadvantages, but all require painstaking preparation of one specimen at a time.....

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