TEM investigation of FIB induced damages in preparation of metal material TEM specimens by FIB

Abstract The Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) specimen of metal material, Interstitial Free (IF) steel, was fabricated using Focused Ions Beam(FIB). The FIB induced damages in the preparation of TEM specimen were studied by TEM and X-ray Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDX). The results show that in the FIB irradiated area, there is a large amount of Ga implanted and mixed into the specimen. Ga ions react with the iron matrix result in formations of FeGa3, which keep the crystallographic orientation to the iron matrix: [010]FeGa3||[010]Fe, (001)FeGa3||(101)Fe. In the FIB unirradiated area, though there contains a small amount of Ga. the effect of Ga implanted to this area is relatively small.