Presented by Rick Passey, Thermo-Fisher Scientific

The Focused Ion Beam/Scanning Electron Microscopy technique has been widely adopted by the materials science and biological communities because it offers both high-resolution imaging and the ability to deposit and remove material from nanometer-sized areas. This presentation will introduce the FIB-SEM technique and cover some of the most popular applications that use the technique.

Rick Passey is an SEM/DualBeam applications expert who has been with Thermo Fisher Scientific (formerly FEI) for 12 years. His experience covers a wide range of microscopes and techniques, from environmental SEMs to the plasma FIB. Prior to working with FEI, Rick spent 13 years as a Process Engineer with Hewlett Packard, leading an SEM/FIB laboratory, supporting materials characterization and failure analysis of inkjet and related technologies.

Project Highlights:

• Efficient Preparation of TEM Lamellae from Heavy-Ion-Irradiated High-Entropy Alloys Using Focused-Ion Beams
  Presented by Calvin Parkin, UW–Madison, Engineering Physics

Inside the core of a nuclear reactor, structural components are subjected to an array of harmful conditions. High temp and often pressure, corrosive coolants more exotic than steam, and a damaging radiation field where energetic particles born from fission displace atoms from the lattice site that then diffuse around to form extended defects. The speaker’s process for practice and preparation of TEM lamellae from irradiated specimens using both the Thermo/FEI Helios pFIB and Zeiss Auriga FIB is described. The high milling currents available on the Helios allow for long liftouts that can be thinned in two sections, while the Auriga allows for more precise and reliable final thinning. An example of a final product thin enough for TEM/STEM is shown.

• Radiation-induced Segregation in SiC
  Presented by Hongliang Zhang, UW–Madison, Engineering Physics

SiC has many great properties for nuclear application. Radiation-induced segregation (RIS) is one of the most dramatic changes in the materials under irradiation. It can cause changes in the structure and chemical of GBs, and significantly degrade the materials’ properties. Understanding RIS in SiC provides the necessary foundation to explain and predict the radiation effects on multiple material properties. The most important challenges in the RIS study include: 1.To find the clean, edge-on GBs. 2. To measure the misorientation and exact crystal index of the grains. With the help of FIB, EBSD and t-EBSD, these problems can be solved.