Interface damage of protective layer in TEM lamella preparation for highly doped ge substrate

Abstract

This work reports on the TEM sample preparation of highly doped germanium (Ge) sample using focused ion beam (FIB) technique. The method of the deposition of protective layer is varied to observe the damage at the interface of protective layer and specimen surface. It is shown that TEM lamella prepared using the FIB inevitably contains the surface damage induced by the deposition of protective layer. An effective method of controlling the damage at the interface of protective layer and specimen surface is by introducing a two-step deposition technique of protective layer using electron beam and ion beam, with smooth interface can be observed when the imaging was performed for the cross-sectional TEM.