With the development of modern science and industry, material components and structures are developing in the direction of diversification and complexity, and traditional polishing methods are often unable to effectively prepare special materials and samples, such as composite materials, porous materials, etc. Compared with traditional polishing methods, argon ion polishing has the characteristics of low stress and strain, less pollution, accurate positioning, simple operation and universality, making it a new type of universal sample preparation method in the field of materials.
Argon ion polishing is the use of ion beams to etch solids, which is based on the ion bombardment effect, also known as sputtering, which is a process in which high-energy incident ions collide with atoms near the surface layer of a solid sample, thereby removing surface atoms to achieve a polishing effect. First observed in gas discharge in the middle of the last century, the sputtering effect was thought to be a deleterious effect damaging the cathode, but today it is used in a wide range of fields such as surface cleaning, etching, thin film deposition, surface analysis, and sputtering ion sources. Today, argon ion polishing is the most widely used electron microscope sample preparation method, and can play an important role in hot fields such as materials science, life science, geological science, electronics, and industrial manufacturing.
Argon ion polishing generally has two polishing functions, section polishing and plane polishing, and its principle is as follows
Plane polishing is the use of a certain amount of eccentricity between the central axis of the ion beam and the central axis of rotation of the sample stage, so as to obtain a uniform wide range of machining surfaces.
A mask is placed between the sample and the ion gun, with the upper end of the sample slightly protruding from the shield, from which the ion beam shines onto the sample and along the edge of the shield, creating a flat cross-section.
How it works:
Equipment: Argon ion polishing machine.
Both the flat throwing and cutting of the sample mainly include the following three parts:
Flat polishing
Sample preparation: Make the surface of the sample to be polished flush with the top edge of the calibration tool.
Sample polishing: After successful calibration, put the sample into the working chamber, select the flat throwing mode, click the "Step Settings" of each ion gun, and set the voltage, current, and durationSelect Linear Distance and the value is the sample radius or half-width. After all parameters are confirmed, turn on the ion gun.
End the work: After the set time is over, the sample polishing is completed, click "Return to normal pressure", and take out the sample for follow-up electron microscopy experimental observation.
Cross-section polishing
Sample Preparation: Load the sample into the cutting stage and place it in a coarse calibrator for calibration so that the sample plane is parallel to the baffle and the sample to be cut is 10-200 times higher than the upper edge of the ion beam baffle