At the end of last year, another major replacement investment was realized at the Chair of Physical Metallurgy. Due to the availability of a refurbished FIB from Tescan’s demo laboratory, it was decided to replace the existing old FIB system.
The instrument was successfully installed at the chair at the end of last year and, following training sessions conducted by Tescan in January, is now available for use. In addition to the ion column, which enables the precise preparation of microstructural features for further microstructural, mechanical, or chemical analysis, the microscope is equipped with an electron column that allows continuous adjustment of acceleration voltage and probe current. While the focus of the recently installed Zeiss Crossbeam 550 is primarily on analytical capabilities, the Tescan Amber will mainly enable further automation of sample preparation for atom probe tomography and transmission electron microscopy.
With the fs-laser of the department, precise pre-preparation of atom probe tips or TEM lamellae has already been possible, what significantly reduced the subsequent FIB time for final thinning. With the Tescan Amber, a direct coordinate transfer from the fs-laser to the FIB is now possible, which further facilitates the automation of final FIB preparation.
The instrument has already been successfully used for initial sample preparation and represents a sustainable solution for the FIB laboratory for the coming years. We are excited about the expanded research and analytical capabilities and look forward to the new scientific insights that will be achieved with the Tescan Amber.
