X41 – Specimen Preparation for in-situ Transmission Electron Microscopy Experiments

Speaker: Sriram Vijayan, The Ohio State University

Micro electro mechanical system (MEMS)-based in situ heating devices have enabled the observation of thermally activated phenomena under high spatial resolution and low specimen drift inside the transmission electron microscope (TEM). These dynamic processes provide mechanistic insights on phase transformations, which are critical to understanding process-structure-property relationships in materials. These MEMS based devices are used to study materials systems ranging from nano-particulate samples dispersed across the sample support membrane to thin-foils extracted from site-specific locations in bulk materials via focused ion beam scanning electron microscope. The former is relatively straight forward, however, the latter has proven to be extremely challenging. In this tutorial, a review of different specimen preparation techniques for in situ TEM experiments will be discussed, in addition to, a ‘step by step’ guide for FIB based specimen preparation for MEMS-based in situ TEM heating experiments. The talk will also cover some important tips and tricks of specimen preparation for a wide array of materials systems and MEMS devices.