FEI Company, a scientific instruments company providing
electron and ion-beam microscopes and tools for nanoscale applications across
many industries, Monday introduced the new Helios NanoLab x50 DualBeam Series.
According to the company, it is most powerful and versatile DualBeam system
available on the market today. It integrates FEI’s extreme high-resolution
scanning electron microscope (XHR SEM) with a new, high-performance focused ion
beam (FIB), to deliver an unprecedented level of imaging and milling capability
for leading-edge applications in semiconductor and materials science research
and development.
FEI first commercialized the DualBeam more than a decade
ago. It combines SEM imaging technology originally launched in the
award-winning Magellan with FIB milling performance for improved resolution and
stability. The microscope is intended for advanced applications in failure
analysis, nanoscale characterization, nanoprototyping, sample preparation, and
other advanced analytical techniques.
The new high-performance Tomahawk FIB, originally introduced
in the V400ACETM and now empowered with FEI’s latest fast switching technology,
provides unprecedented SEM and FIB live monitoring of milling operations, a
smaller FIB spot for more precise milling control, as well as higher beam
currents for faster material removal on large structures, such as through
silicon vias (TSVs). Overall throughput of advanced TEM lamella preparation has
been improved by 40%.
The Helios 450(S) series is designed primarily for today’s
advanced semiconductor labs that are dealing with numerous challenges,
including shrinking dimensions at sub 32-nm nodes; advanced packaging
techniques, such as TSVs and multi-die stacks; as well as a higher volume of
samples requiring TEM imaging.
The Helios 650 is designed for academic and industrial
research centers that need to do advanced material characterization and
modification down to the single nanometer scale. It delivers a wider range of
information and higher quality 3D data in order to better understand material
characteristics, such as particle/porosity distribution, crack propagation and
other behaviors. The sub-nanometer resolution of the Helios 650 at extremely
low beam energies provides surface-specific imaging that, until now, was
unavailable in a dual beam instrument. For nanoprototyping, the Helios 650
offers users the ability to create finer, more complex structures over large
areas (millimeters in size) with better control over dimensions, fewer
artifacts, faster material removal rates, and more.
The Helios 450(S) and 650 series DualBeam systems are
available for ordering immediately.
SOURCE: FEI Company