Femtosecond-laser-assisted focused ion beam method for the fabrication of tip specimens for atom probe tomography

This study developed a simple femtosecond (fs)-laser-assisted focused ion beam (FIB) method for rapidly fabricating tip samples for atom probe tomography (APT). In this method, a microtip array is fabricated directly on a Si sample to avoid the use of conventional lift-out procedures. The proposed method comprises two steps: fs-laser ablation and Ga FIB annular milling. Fs-laser ablation results in the formation of a damaged amorphous layer; however, this layer is small, does not affect the results of APT, and can be removed through subsequent Ga FIB annular milling. APT analysis of a tip sample fabricated using the proposed approach confirmed the feasibility of the method. This method not only enhanced the stability of the tip sample but also had a considerably shorter sample preparation time compared with conventional Ga FIB and Xe FIB fabrication processes.