학술논문

A contamination-free electron-transparent metallic sample preparation method for MEMS experiments with in situ S/TEM
Document Type
Working Paper
Source
Subject
Condensed Matter - Materials Science
Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Language
Abstract
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are currently supporting ground-breaking basic research in materials science and metallurgy as they allow in situ experiments on materials at the nanoscale within electron-microscopes in a wide variety of different conditions such as extreme materials dynamics under ultrafast heating and quenching rates as well as in complex electro-chemical environments. Electron-transparent sample preparation for MEMS e-chips remains a challenge for this technology as the existing methodologies can introduce contaminants, thus disrupting the experiments and the analysis of results. Herein we introduce a methodology for simple and fast electron-transparent sample preparation for MEMS e-chips without significant contamination. The quality of the samples as well as their performance during a MEMS e-chip experiment in situ within an electron-microscope are evaluated during a heat treatment of a crossover AlMgZn(Cu) alloy.
Comment: Preprint submitted to Microscopy and Microanalysis