The CMSC has recently acquired a dual column Focused Ion Beam (FIB) – Secondary Electron Microscope (SEM). This state of the art instrument adds a gallium focused ion beam to a high resolution SEM. The ion beam is of sufficient energy to remove material from the sample. This allows the operator to examine subsurface structures, sample porosity, grain orientation, layered materials, cell structures and membranes, and many other features. In addition, the ion beam can be manipulated into milling complex shapes for circuit design, micromachining, microfluidics, and micron scale materials testing.

 The FIB-SEM at the CMSC has several features including:

• A gas injection system that allows for carbon, platinum and silicon deposition. Some applications for this include circuit editing, micron scale manufacturing, and as an aid for sample lift-out.
• An Omniprobe sample manipulator. This is an insertable probe that is intended for sample lift-out (such as for TEM sample preparation) but can also be used for in-situ circuit testing and sample manipulation.
• A Leica cryogenic stage that will allow the operator to FIB mill a specimen at cryogenic temperatures. This is particularly useful for the milling of biological specimens, gels, or low T_g polymers.
• An Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer (EDS) that can be used to analyze the atomic composition of a sample.
• An Electron Back Scatter Detector (EBSD) that can be used to characterize the crystalline elements of a material as well measure their grain size and orientation.
• An independent patterning software, which allows the user to mill complex shapes.