Microscopy Applications for Materials Science

Nanosciences and Nanomaterials

Solve the Most Pressing Challenges in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Innovation in nanotechnology is driven by increasing demand for cheaper and faster devices. To satisfy this demand, research into semiconductors, low-D materials, thin films, photonics and micro- and nanofluidics is becoming more complex. In other words, there is a constant drive to push nanosciences further so technology can advance beyond what’s currently available.

But nanomaterials research is only as good as the microscopy tools available. The right tools can help you easily gather critical information about your samples - and the more complex your sample or your research, the more stringent your analytical requirements will be. If your microscope cannot keep up with your research needs, then you and your project will be left behind.

Learn More About ZEISS Microscopy Solutions and How They Can Help You

Semiconductor and Electronics Research

Low-D Materials

Thin Films

Photonics

Micro- and Nanofluidics

What our Customer says Dr. Claus Burkhardt Head of Applied Sciences and Electron Microscopy, NMI Reutlingen

"What would you do if you could detect magnetic moments as small as 1 Bohr magneton? In fact, you could watch single electron spins flip. And that’s what we are trying to do with nanoSQUIDs - superconducting quantum interference devices. They consist of a ring intersected by Josephson junctions. They have ultrathin insulating tunnel barriers around one nm thick. We can fabricate SQUIDs with a ZEISS Orion Nanofab. As the junctions are small, TEM is needed on ultra-thin samples. The crystal damage can then be further investigated. Site-specific preparation, essential for the relocation of the regions of interest, can only be done with a FIB-SEM. To achieve atomic resolution, the thinnest high-quality samples are crucial."

Prepare a TEM Lamella and Investigate NanoSQUIDS

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Learn in this video how the TEM lamella preparation workflow of ZEISS Crossbeam enables Benedikt Müller, University of Tuebingen, and Claus Burkhardt, NMI Reutlingen, to investigate the crystal structure of NanoSQUIDS.

Applications

Micromechanical Testing
Trace Elements in Thin Films
3D Analytics of Nano-materials
3D Printed Nanolattice Structure
CVD-grown MoS2 2D Crystals on Si/SiO2 Substrate
Structured Gold Platelets
3D Stacked Die Interconnec
Microfluidics Example

Micromechanical Testing
Pillar array machined using the fs-laser in a titanium alloy sample. These pillars could be used for micromechanical testing or as sample prep for X-ray microscopes after liftout. Size of each pillar: 100 µm tall, surrounded by 150 µm clearance on all sides, diameter at the tip 30 µm. Laser machining time for the whole array 2.5 mins. FOV 2.010 mm. ZEISS Crossbeam 350 laser
Trace Elements in Thin Films
Perovskite solar cell on a glass substrate after a top-down SIMS measurement. ROI was scanned by the gallium beam 500 times. Secondary ions were analyzed spectroscopically according to their mass/charge ratio. A significant Na signal is observed across all layers. Intermixing and diffusion of trace elements can be studied by SIMS and is known to influence the performance of thin-film photovoltaic cells. (left SEM image, scale bar 2μm, right Na SIMS map). ZEISS Crossbeam 350 FIB-SEM with a Time of Flight (ToF) SIMS detector. Sample courtesy of Arafat Mahmud, RSEEME, Australian National University.
3D Analytics of Nanomaterials
Microstructural degradation observed in a SOEC (Solid Oxide Electrolyzer Cell). 3D FIB-SEM/EDS enables the quantification of the extent of microstructural changes and detrimental effects on the cell performance. Compare: Characterization of SOECs by Advanced FIB-SEM Tomography, a ZEISS White Paper. ZEISS Crossbeam with EDS, ZEISS Atlas 5 with 3D Analytics module. Sample courtesy of M. Cantoni, EPFL, Lausanne, CH.
3D Printed Nanolattice Structure
Imaged in Zernike phase contrast before in situ compression experiments (sample width 30 µm). ZEISS Xradia Ultra. Sample courtesy: R. Schweiger, KIT, DE.
CVD-grown MoS2 2D crystals on Si/SiO2 substrate
The RISE (Raman Imaging and Scanning Electron Microscopy) image demonstrates wrinkles and overlapping parts of the MoS2 crystals (green), multilayers (blue) and single layers (red). ZEISS Sigma with RISE. Field of view 33 µm.
Structured Gold Platelets
Investigated as part of fundamental research on plasmonic effects.
ZEISS GeminiSEM 560. For more information compare: Science Advances 3, e1700721 (2017). Image: courtesy of University Stuttgart, 4th Physics Institute and Center for Applied Quantum Technology, Germany. Field of view 47.64 µm.
3D Stacked Die Interconnect
Cu-pillar microbumps buried 760 µm deep, cross-sections done in less than one hour. Field of view 2.58 mm, ZEISS Crossbeam laser.
Microfluidics Example
20 nm wide nano-channels in various configurations up to 20 μm in length. ZEISS Crossbeam & ZEISS Atlas 5 with NPVE module, field of view 59 μm.

ZnO Nanoparticles on a Carbon Film

STEM tilt series, brightfield STEM images are shown as one example of four signals collected in total simultaneously with the aSTEM detector using the special sample holder for STEM tomography. ZEISS GeminiSEM.

3D Tomography & Analytics

of a multi-layered metal system exemplified by a Canadian coin, typical FIB-SEM workflow combining milling, imaging, EBSD (top in this video) & EDS (bottom). Details, upper row from left to right: EBSD, copper, band contrast; EBSD, iron, Euler color; EBSD, nickel, IPF X. Lower row, from left to right: EDS maps of: copper, iron, nickel. ZEISS Crossbeam, ZEISS Atlas 5 with 3D Analytics module, EDS, EBSD.

Enhancing nanoparticles research: High resolution SEM image of the ferrocerium nanoparticles is the first step of the end-to-end microscopy workflow from FE-SEM imaging to image segmenta

Enhancing nanoparticles research: False-colored image of the ferrocerium nanoparticles after ML-based segmentation illustrating the results of the second step of the end-to-end microscopy workflow from FE-SEM imaging to segmentation.

Accelerating Nanoparticle Research

The measurement of nanoparticle sizes can be facilitated by an automated end-to-end microscopy workflow using SEM image acquisition and machine learning-based image segmentation. This task was usually done with watershed algorithms manually applied to an image series. Nowadays, this tedious work can be avoided by applying AI-based image processing. Surface sensitive high resolution FE-SEM imaging of ferrocerium nanoparticles (left) shows the first step of the workflow using a ZEISS GeminiSEM (Inlens SE detection, 2 kV acceleration voltage); the false-colored image shows the results of the image segmentation done with arivis Pro (right).

How-to Videos

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TEM Prep

Standard Workflow

How to prepare a TEM sample with ZEISS Crossbeam
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TEM Prep

Planar View Workflow

How to prepare a TEM sample in planar view geometry with ZEISS Crossbeam
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TEM Prep

Back Side Workflow

How to prepare a TEM sample in back side geometry with ZEISS Crossbeam
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Cut-to-ROI Workflow

How to prepare a TEM sample with laser assistance

How to prepare a TEM sample from a deeply buried ROI with ZEISS Crossbeam laser
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LaserFIB

Introducing a Workflow for Massive Material Ablation

Downloads

ZEISS Atlas 5

Characterization of Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells by Advanced FIB-SEM Tomography

1 MB

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Achieving Nano-scaled EDS Analysis in an SEM

with a Detector for Transmission Scanning Electron Microscop

863 KB

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Targeted Sample Preparation with ZEISS Crossbeam laser

3 MB

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X-ray Nanotomography in the Laboratory

with ZEISS Xradia Ultra 3D X-ray Microscopes

6 MB

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FIB-SEM Fabrication of Atom Probe Specimens with ZEISS Crossbeam

1 MB

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$Preview image of Topography and Refractive Index Measurement$

Topography and Refractive Index Measurement

of a Sub-μm Transparent Film on an Electronic Chip by Correlation of Scanning Electron and Confocal Microscopy

1 MB

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