Accessibility statement

FEI Nova 200 FIBSEM

Acquired in 2018, the FEI Nova 200 is a focused ion beam scanning electron microscope (FIBSEM) or DualBeam™ instrument. It is used for cutting & milling with the gallium ion beam using ion sputtering. The (Sirion™) electron column is equipped with a Schottky (field-assisted) thermionic emitter and operates between 2 and 30 keV; the liquid metal (gallium) ion source operates between 5 and 30 keV and sits in a (Magnum™) ion column with octupole electrostatic lens.

This instrument is equipped with:

  • Everhart-Thornley detector for backscattered electrons (SEM only) and secondary electrons (FIB and SEM). The (magnetic) field-free SEM imaging condition allows accurate ion milling.
  • Through-the-lens detector for high-resolution SE imaging (SEM only).
  • Kleindiek 3-axis micro-manipulator for lift-out specimen preparation for, e.g. TEM lamella preparation.
  • Pt deposition gas injection system (GIS) for masking, contacting and hole-filling.
  • XeF 2 GIS for enhanced Si etching (7× increase).
  • 5-axis eucentric stage with the following ranges:
    - X,Y = +/- 50 mm
    - Z = 25 mm
    - Tilt = -15 o to +75 o (at +52 o ion column is normal to stage)
    - Rotation = 360 o
  • Ion probe range: 1 pA (7 nm diameter) to 20 nA (430 nm)

The instrument is used for TEM lamella preparation and manufacturing near-nanometre sized holes for plasmonic devices.

Please contact the York JEOL Nanocentre team for further details about access at nanocentre-access@york.ac.uk.

Example Applications

Step-by-step procedure for TEM lamella preparation. The identification and extraction of magnetic devices for examination in the TEM (see JEOL 2010 for bright-field image). Extraction and milling is about 5 to 6 hours per sample.

An array of holes on Au-SiN membranes cut for electron interferometry experiments. Each slot is 500 nm wide.

Mounting a lamella onto an OmniProbe™ grid (left) with the Kleindiek micro-manipulator.