Deposition of metallic gallium on re-crystallized ceramic material during focused ion beam milling
- Departament de Ciència dels Materials i Enginyeria Metallúrgica, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Avda. Diagonal 647 (ETSEIB), 08028 Barcelona (Spain)
- Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito de la Investigación Científica s/n, Cd Universitaria, 04510 México DF, México (Mexico)
We report a new kind of artifact observed in the preparation of a TEM sample of zirconia by FIB, which consists in the deposition of metallic gallium nano-dots on the TEM sample surface. High resolution TEM images showed a microstructure of fine equiaxed grains of ∼ 5 nm, with some of them possessing two particular characteristics: high contrast and well-defined fast Fourier transform. These grains could not be identified as any phase of zirconia but it was possible to identify them as gallium crystals in the zone axis [110]. Based on HRTEM simulations, the possible orientations between zirconia substrate and deposited gallium are discussed in terms of lattice mismatch and oxygen affinity. - Highlights: • We show a new type of artifact induced during preparation of TEM samples by FIB. • Deposition of Ga occurs due to its high affinity for oxygen. • Materials with small grain size (∼ 5 nm) could promote Ga deposition. • Small grain size permits the elastic accommodation of deposited Ga.
- OSTI ID:
- 22288692
- Journal Information:
- Materials Characterization, Vol. 86; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2013 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1044-5803
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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