A powerful scanning electron microscope can only show its full power if the specimen under observation has been properly prepared.
Specimens often consist of different layers of different materials, each of them having different hardness. This makes the preparation of high-quality cross sections by traditional mechanical polishing very challenging - if not impossible - as softer material layers will smear or be removed faster than harder layers, not mentioning about possible de-lamination of the individual layers by the mechanical polishing stress.
Also the creation of perfect mirror-like surfaces for EBSD analysis by pure mechanical polishing is challenging.
Hitachi's advanced Ion Beam sample preparation systems will significantly enhance the preparation quality of your specimens with ease!
Tools available are:
E-3500 Cross Section Ion Polisher
IM-3000 Flat Surface Ion Milling System
