Focused Ion Beam (FIB)

The focused ion beam (FIB) is an extension to a scanning electron microscope (SEM). With it, you can image and modify a specimen by site-specific material removal, deposition and manipulation.  The beam of ions hits the sample locally and removes material in a controlled way.  If a special gas is introduced while scanning, the gas is decomposed and site-specific deposition occurs.  The FIBs also include SEMs for simultaneous imaging during modification and a manipulator for moving small particles.

Interested in collecting SEM and FIB data from your sofa?

From the comfort of your home you can get trained to operate both MCL FIBs. You can acquire surface images, elemental maps and cross sections and prepare TEM samples.
Watch this short overview video below and review more details about SEM and FIB in the poster located on the bottom-right of this page.

If you have questions, please contact Trevor Clark at trevor@psu.edu.

Strengths

• site selective sample preparation and cross-sectioning
• simultaneous scanning electron microscopy
• fabrication of complex features via site specific sputtering and deposition (Carbon, Platinum and Tungsten)