By Institut Catala de Nanociencia i Nanotecnologia (ICN2)
The FIB Helios 5 UX is a high-performance focused ion beam (FIB) scanning electron microscope (SEM) system designed and manufactured by the company Thermo Fisher. This advanced equipment is used for a wide range of applications, including materials science, nanotechnology, and semiconductor analysis. The FIB Helios 5 UX is equipped with a high-resolution SEM (Elstar extreme high-resolution field emission) that provides images with a resolution of up to 0.8 nm, allowing researchers to see details at the nanoscale. Additionally, the system includes an ion column (Phoenix Ion Column with superior high-current and low-voltage performance) that can be used to modify, manipulate and prepare samples, making it an ideal tool for creating high quality TEM lamellas at low voltage. Technical specifications - Ion optics: - Ion beam current range: 1 pA – 65 nA - Accelerating voltage range: 500 V – 30 kV - Max. horizontal field width: 0.7 mm at beam coincidence point - Electron optics: - Electron beam resolution: - At optimum working distance (WD): - 0.6 nm at 30 kV STEM - 0.7 nm at 1 kV - 1.0 nm at 500 V (ICD) - At coincident point: - 0.6 nm at 15 kV - 1.2 nm at 1 kV - Electron beam current range: 0.8 pA to 100 nA - Accelerating voltage range: 350 V – 30 kV - Landing energy range: 20 eV – 30 keV - Maximum horizontal field width: 2.3 mm at 4 mm WD - Detectors: - In-lens SE/BSE detector (TLD-SE, TLD-BSE) - In-column SE/BSE detector (ICD) - In-column BSE detector (MD) - Everhart-Thornley SE detector (ETD) - High-performance in-chamber electron and ion detector (ICE) for secondary ions (SI) and electrons (SE) - Retractable STEM 3+ detector with BF/ DF/ HAADF segments - Integrated beam current measurement - CryoMAT Loader: Quick Loader with a Cryo option. This cryo transfer system can help stabilize non-wet materials (typically materials with < 2% water), operating temperature range +100C to -190C. Temperature is microprocessor controlled and the stability is better than +/- 1 °C. Applications - Ultra high-quality, site-specific, ultra-thin sample preparation for TEM (In-situ, Ex-situ, X-Sectional) and APT, free of artifacts or amorphous layers. - Ion milling conformation and deposition (W, C) of complex structures with critical dimensions of less than 10 nm. - Cryogenic sample conditions (optional) that allows the preparation of non-wet materials as beam sensitive materials (polimers, low K dielectrics, hard and soft materials, dehydrated biological samples, etc.) with simultaneously direct SEM characterization. - SEM characterization at the subnanometer scale (< 1 nm) - STEM mode (BF/ DF/ HAADF) for studying the internal structure of the materials.
