Analysis of Superconducting Thin Films in a Modern FIB/SEM Dual-Beam Instrument

Thin-film technology is used in many applications and often requires structural and chemical analyses on the nanoscale. (Scanning) transmission electron microscopy ((S)TEM) in a dedicated (S)TEM instrument is a powerful analysis tool for this purpose. However, the TEM sample preparation and consecutive (S)TEM measurement in different instruments limit high-throughput analysis. Modern combined focused-ion-beam (FIB)/SEM systems are routinely used for TEM sample preparation and can be equipped with a STEM- (for STEM-in-SEM imaging), energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy- (EDXS), and other detectors, resulting in a large versatility for material analysis.
In this work, we demonstrate how correlative SEM, EDXS, and STEM-in-SEM in a Thermo Scientific Helios G4 FX FIB/SEM instrument, equipped with a dedicated STEM holder and a Bruker XFlash 6|60 EDXS system, can be used for sample preparation and structural and chemical characterization within one instrument. We have investigated Ba(Fe$_{0.92}$Co$_{0.08}$)$_2$As$_2$ (Ba122) and REBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-\delta}$ (REBCO, RE: rare earth, e.g. Gd) thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition on different substrates.