Auto Slice&View (ASV) fully commissioned

The nanoFAB is pleased to announce that the FIB/SEM tomography is fully commissioned on the Helios Hydra Plasma FIB/SEM dual beam system. 

FIB/SEM tomography is a high-resolution 3D volume analysis technique, by serial sectioning – sequential application of SEM imaging and FIB milling.

The fully automatic ASV workflow integrated on the Helios Hydra Plasma FIB/SEM dualbeam system provides advanced FIB/SEM tomography acquisition that are not commonly available on conventional FIB/SEM systems:

1. 1. Rocking mill minimizes curtaining effect
   2. Flexibility of Normal-to-SEM imaging eliminates unwanted effects of imaging at a tilted angle. 
   3. Multiple ion species (Xe, Ar, O, or N) are available, enabling optimal ion beams for various types of materials. While Xe beam is suitable for general inorganic materials, Oxygen ions provide much better milling quality for biological samples embedded in resins, in terms of less milling artifacts.

The ASV FIB/SEM tomography process is now available to users as staff analysis. If you have needs for these analysis, please submit a “sample” request with sample details on LMACS. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Peng Li (Peng.Li@ualberta.ca) – the Characterization Group Manager.

Application Examples

• Reconstruction of nano-structured Si film
  Process details: Xe beam, 30 kV, 1 nA, 10 nm slice thickness, 1750 slices
  

• Porosity analysis of Porous Sn
  Sample Courtesy: Drs. Peter Kalisvaart, Jillian Buriak (University of Alberta) and Bing Cao (Nanode Battery Technologies)
  Process details: Xe beam, 30 kV, 4nA, 10 nm slice thickness, 895 slices
  

•  3D reconstruction of Mitochondria in Hela cells
  Sample Courtesy: Drs. Thomas Simmen, Mike Hendzel and Xuejun Sun, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta
  Process details:
  Volume 1: O beam, 30 kV, 1.7 nA, 3 nm slice thickness, 4550 slices
  Volume 2: Xe beam, 30 kV, 4 nA, 5 nm slice thickness, 5990 slices
  

•  3D reconstruction of Al and Ce phases in Al-Ce alloy spheres
  Sample Courtesy: Drs. Jonas Valloton and Hani Henein, Faculty of Engineering, University of Alberta
  Process details:
  Volume 1: Low Mag./large volume, Xe beam, 30 kV, 4 nA, 30 nm slice thickness, 2179 slices
  Volume 2: High Mag./small volume, Xe beam, 30 kV, 4 nA, 5nm slice thickness, 1220 slices