A Fast and Implantation-Free Sample Production Method for Large Scale Electron-Transparent Metallic Samples Destined for MEMS-Based In Situ S/TEM Experiments.

Matheus A Tunes,Stefan Pogatscher,Thomas M Kremmer,Lukas Stemper,Cameron R Quick,Phillip Dumitraschkewitz,Diego S R Coradini,Jakob Grasserbauer

doi:10.3390/ma14051085

Abstract

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are currently supporting ground-breaking basic research in materials science and metallurgy as they allow in situ experiments on materials at the nanoscale within electron microscopes in a wide variety of different conditions such as extreme materials dynamics under ultrafast heating and quenching rates as well as in complex electro-chemical environments. Electron-transparent sample preparation for MEMS e-chips remains a challenge for this technology as the existing methodologies can introduce contaminants, thus disrupting the experiments and the analysis of results. Herein we introduce a methodology for simple and fast electron-transparent sample preparation for MEMS e-chips without significant contamination. The quality of the samples as well as their performance during a MEMS e-chip experiment in situ within an electron microscope are evaluated during a heat treatment of a crossover AlMgZn(Cu) alloy.

Highlights

We report in this paper an alternative methodology for producing good-quality and implantation-free electron-transparent metallic specimens for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) experiments with in situ scanning/transmission electron microscopes (S/TEM), consisting, in essence, of a series of scalpel cuts on an electropolished 3 mm disk to isolate a suitably sized sample
An alternative method for producing good-quality and implantation-free electrontransparent samples for MEMS experiments in situ within a S/TEM was introduced in this paper
The electron-transparent piece can be transferred to pristine MEMS e-chips, with a high-quality animal hair used as a micrometer-sized manipulation tool

Summary

Introduction

As a rapidly evolving and emerging technology, MEMS experiments with in situ TEM can provide countless opportunities for investigation of the real-time response of materials in corrosive and gaseous environments [1,2], under extreme dynamic changes when subjected to ultrafast heating and cooling rates of up to 106 K·s−1 [3,4], under mechanical loading [5,6] or when subjected to complex photocatalytic environments [7,8]. These experiments are contributing to the design of new materials at the nanoscale as well as supporting the progress of basic research in science by allowing complex physicochemical [9] and/or elastoplastic [10]

Methods

Results

Conclusion