30.10.2019 Ion Beam Processing at the Nano-Scale: From Energy Materials to Human Brain

Among the latest electron microscopy technologies, Focused Ion Beam (FIB) processing uses focused ion and electron beams for site-specific analysis, imaging, milling, deposition, micromachining, prototyping and manipulation, in particular for applications in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Dual-beam platforms (FIB-SEM) are usually equipped with precursor-based gas injection systems (GIS), micromanipulators, and chemical analysis tools (such as, EDS or WDS systems). As a major application, specimen preparation for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with ultrahigh precision can be performed. Besides, FIB sectioning and sampling techniques, in combination to SEM high resolution imaging and EDS mapping, are frequently used for revealing the structural and morphological distribution of material systems with three-dimensional (3D) network at micro-/nanoscale. Especially, when hard materials or material systems with hard substrates are considered, FIB is the only technique for site-specific processing/analysis and regional micro- and nanomachining. However, nowadays, soft materials and tissues can also gently be structured and examined using ion beam processing. This talk will examples from advanced FIB-SEM nanostructuring, patterning and  characterization applications on determining morphological, chemical and structural features of both hard and soft nanocomposite energy and bioactive materials, ranging from fuel cells to biocompatible ceramics and from biodegradable polymer coatings to neural tissues (e.g. human brain).