The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 17, 2001
Filed:
Jan. 23, 1998
Wilfried Nisch, Tübingen, DE;
Peter Gnauck, Reutlingen, DE;
Abstract
The invention concerns an “in situ” ion-etching device for local thinning of a sample in a transmission electron microscope (,) with simultaneous electron microscopic observation. Towards this end, an ion beam device (,) is arranged in such a way that the finest possible ion probe is produced at the sample location and can be scanned over the sample surface. The ion beam (,) and sample (,) thereby enclose the flattest possible angle. To compensate for the magnetic field of the objective lens (,), the ion beam (,) is defected along a curved path onto the sample (,). In a preferred embodiment, an electrostatic cylinder capacitor sector field effects double focusing. The ion probe can be positioned, via the scanned ion image, onto a selected region of the sample by the secondary electrons (,) released from the sample (,). The sample location can be observed during the ion thinning process in electron transmission or electron diffraction. It is thereby possible to carry out target preparations under high-resolution observing conditions and to eliminate contaminant or reactive layers.