Site-specific transmission electron microscope characterization of micrometer-sized particles using the focused ion beam lift-out technique

Micrometer sized particles have been studied to show that a high-quality transmission electron microscope (TEM) specimen can be produced, without the use of embedding media, from a site-specific region of chosen particles using the focused ion beam (FIB) lift-out (LO) technique. The uniqueness of this technique is that site-specific TEM LO specimens maybe obtained from particles and from regions which are smaller than the conventional similar to 10-20 mum x 5 mum x similar to0.1 mum dimensions of the LO specimen. The innovative FIB LO procedures are described in detail and TEM images of electron transparent specimens obtained from specific micrometer-sized particles are presented.