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:
May. 03, 2005
Filed:
Sep. 02, 2003
Remco Theodorus Johannes Petrus Geurts, Oss, NL;
Michael Frederick Hayles, Eindhoven, NL;
Remco Theodorus Johannes Petrus Geurts, Oss, NL;
Michael Frederick Hayles, Eindhoven, NL;
FEI Company, Hillsboro, OR (US);
Abstract
In relatively thick samples for electron microscopy imaging, details of interest are often located in the bulk of the sample, so that they cannot be directly imaged in the form of a SEM image. According to the invention, so as to expose the cross-section containing the details of interest, the frozen sample is subjected to ion milling, in such a manner that the desired cross-section is exposed. Thereafter, the exposed cross-section is further eroded in a controlled manner via sublimation, whereby the detail of interest is approached in a very accurate manner, and its fine details become visible. Hereafter, the finally desired SEM image can be made. By repetition of this process, a large number of successive cross-sections can be imaged, so that a spatial representation of the sample is obtained.