Electron-beam assisted platinum deposition as a protective layer for FIB and TEM applications

In FIB (focused ion beam) applications, ion beam (Ga+) assisted Pt deposition is commonly used as a protection layer for subsequent milling for cross-section or TEM sample preparation. But the damage induced by ion beam during Pt deposition makes tiny feature analysis very difficult or impossible. In this paper, a new method by using two deposition steps, first using electron beam induced Pt deposition then subsequently follow by ion beam induced Pt deposition, was developed to address the above tough issues. By this new method, nearly no damage was introduced to the features of interest during Pt deposition. This new technique was applied to practical FA cases and demonstrated to be successful.