Abstract
HRTEM has proven to be the best method to study the interface structure of heterogeneous materials at the atomic level. One of the critical steps in these experiments is preparation of sufficiently thin cross section TEM (XTEM) specimens with different materials on both sides of the interface in good condition for HRTEM, especially when metal/ceramic materials are of interest. For the material system of a thin metal film on 6H-SiC substrate, the conventional ion milling method did not produce satisfactory XTEM specimens, because of the large difference in ion milling rates between metals and SiC. Most of the metal was ion milled way before a thin area of SiC was obtained. Two very important parameters, the thickness of the metal thin film normal to the interface and the atomic bonding structure across the interface were usually lost. Fig.l shows an example. The original thickness of the metal was 100 nm, and most of that has been removed. An amorphous layer of 1 to 1.5 nm thickness apparently due to ion milling formed at the metal/SiC interface.
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