JP2010080382A - Thin film sample creating device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a thin film sample creating device with a sample holder having a longer life. <P>SOLUTION: The thin film sample creating device includes a slit plate 131 arranged between the sample holder 111 mounted in a sample machining chamber 101 and a beam emitting means 115 for narrowing the diameter of ion beams IB emitted from the beam emitting means 115, and an interference preventing means 151 for moving at least one of the slit plate 131 and a shielding glass 121 to prevent interference between the slit plate 131 and the shielding glass 121 when removing the sample holder 111 from the sample machining chamber 101. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention provides a sample processing chamber in which the inside is evacuated to a predetermined degree of vacuum, and can be attached / detached to / from the sample processing chamber, and when attached to the sample processing chamber, A sample holder to be held, a beam irradiation means for irradiating an ion beam to the sample held by the sample holder in the sample processing chamber to process the sample into a thin film, and held by the sample holder in the sample processing chamber And an observation means for observing a processed surface of the sample.

As an apparatus for preparing a thin film sample observed with a transmission electron microscope (TEM), a thin film forming apparatus as shown in FIG. 8 is used.
In the figure, a sample processing chamber 1 in which the inside is evacuated to a predetermined degree of vacuum includes a main body 1a and an attaching / detaching portion 1b provided to be attachable / detachable to / from the main body 1a. 8 shows a state where the detachable portion 1b is attached to the main body portion 1a, and the detachable portion 1b can be detached from the main body portion 1a by moving the detachable portion 1b in the arrow A direction.

  A sample holder 3 that holds a sample 5 is provided in the sample processing chamber 1. The sample holder 3 can be attached / detached to / from the sample processing chamber 1 by being provided in the attaching / detaching portion 1b.

The sample processing chamber 1 is provided with beam irradiation means 7 for irradiating the sample 5 held by the sample holder 3 in the sample processing chamber 1 with the ion beam IB to process the sample 5 into a thin film.
Further, the sample processing chamber 1 is provided with observation means 9 such as a CCD camera for observing the processed surface of the sample 5 held by the sample holder 3 in the sample processing chamber 1.

Further, the sample 5 is provided with a shielding material 11 for shielding a predetermined region of the processing surface 5a from the ion beam IB.
Next, the operation of the thin film forming apparatus having the above configuration will be described. When the ion beam IB is irradiated from the beam irradiation means 7 toward the processing surface 5a of the sample 5, the portion other than the shielding material 11 is cut and a thin film sample is created (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Further, in such a thin film sample preparation apparatus, the contamination of the sample 5 that has been cut by the ion beam during processing adheres to the observation window of the observation means 9, and the processing state in the observation means 9 cannot be observed. It is proposed that a shielding glass 13 is provided between the observation means 9 and the observation means 9 so that the contamination of the sample 5 adheres to the shielding glass 13.

In addition, it is necessary to replace | exchange regularly the shielding glass 13 to which the contamination of the sample 5 adheres. Therefore, the shielding glass 13 is provided in the sample holder 3 that can be attached / detached to / from the sample processing chamber 1.
JP 2007-333682 A

However, in the thin film sample preparation apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 8, the diameter of the ion beam IB is large and the sample holder 3 is scraped by the ion beam IB, so that the durability of the sample holder 3 is shortened.
In order to solve this, it is conceivable to provide a slit (a stop) for reducing the diameter of the ion beam IB. The shorter the distance between the slit and the sample holder 3, the smaller the influence of the divergence of the ion beam IB. Therefore, in the thin film sample preparation apparatus configured as shown in FIG. 8, it is preferable to arrange the slit 15 (indicated by a two-dot chain line) as close as possible to the sample holder 3, that is, the sample 5. However, if the slit 15 is arranged near the sample 5, there is a problem that the slit 15 and the sample holder 3 interfere with each other when the sample holder 3 is attached or detached.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the said problem, The subject is providing the thin film sample preparation apparatus with which the lifetime of a sample holder becomes long.

  The invention according to claim 1, which solves the above-described problem, is provided in a sample processing chamber in which the inside is evacuated to a predetermined degree of vacuum, and is attachable / detachable to the sample processing chamber, and is attached to the sample processing chamber. A sample holder for holding a sample in the sample processing chamber; a beam irradiation means for irradiating an ion beam to a sample held by the sample holder in the sample processing chamber to process the sample into a thin film; and the sample processing Observation means for observing the processing surface of the sample held in the sample holder in the room, and provided in the sample holder, and when the sample holder is attached to the sample processing chamber, the sample holder and the observation means And a shielding glass that prevents contamination generated during thin film processing of the sample from adhering to the observation means. When removing the sample holder from the sample processing chamber, a slit arranged between the sample holder attached to the processing chamber and the beam irradiation means, and a slit for reducing the diameter of the ion beam irradiated from the beam irradiation means, An apparatus for preparing a thin film sample, comprising: an interference preventing unit that moves at least one of the slit and the shielding glass to prevent interference between the slit and the shielding glass.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the interference preventing means is provided so as to be movable with respect to the sample holder, and when the sample holder is attached to the sample processing chamber, the interference preventing means moves in contact with the wall surface of the sample processing chamber. A moving member that rotates, a glass holding member that is rotatably provided on the sample holder and has the shielding glass attached to the rotating end, and a biasing means that biases the shielding glass in a position direction that does not interfere with the slit And the glass holding member so that the shielding glass is positioned between the sample holder and the observation means when the sample holder is attached to the sample processing chamber. When the member is moved and the sample holder attached to the sample processing chamber is removed from the sample processing chamber, the shielding glass does not interfere with the slit. A cam mechanism for moving said glass supporting member is a thin film sample producing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that it consists of.

  The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the glass holding member is provided so as to rotate by its own weight in a position direction in which the shielding glass does not interfere with the slit, and the biasing means is gravity. Item 2. The thin film sample preparation device according to Item 2.

  According to the first to third aspects of the present invention, the slit is arranged between the sample holder attached to the sample processing chamber and the beam irradiation unit and narrows the diameter of the ion beam irradiated from the beam irradiation unit. Since the ion beam irradiated to the sample holder is reduced, the life of the sample holder is extended.

  Furthermore, when removing the sample holder from the sample processing chamber, there is provided an interference preventing means for moving at least one of the slit and the shielding glass to prevent interference between the slit and the shielding glass. Thus, the slit can be arranged as close as possible to the sample holder, the ion beam irradiated to the sample holder is further reduced, and the life of the sample holder is extended.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the glass holding member is provided so as to rotate in a position direction in which the shielding glass does not interfere with the slit by its own weight, and the biasing means is a gravity, and thus a spring. Thus, the number of parts can be reduced.

First, the thin film sample preparation apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the thin film sample preparation apparatus of this embodiment viewed from the front.
In the figure, a sample processing chamber 101 whose inside is evacuated to a predetermined degree of vacuum comprises a main body portion 105 having an opening 103 and an attaching / detaching portion 107 provided so as to be attachable / detachable to / from the main body portion 105. Yes. 1 shows a state where the detachable portion 107 is attached to the main body portion 105, and the detachable portion 107 can be detached from the main body portion 105 by moving the detachable portion 107 in the arrow B direction.

  A sample holder 111 that holds a sample 113 is provided in the sample processing chamber 101. The sample holder 111 can be attached / detached to / from the sample processing chamber 101 by being provided in the attaching / detaching portion 107.

  Further, the sample processing chamber 101 is provided with beam irradiation means 115 for irradiating the sample 113 held by the sample holder 111 in the sample processing chamber 101 with the ion beam IB to process the sample 113 into a thin film.

  Further, a sample 113 held by a sample holder 111 in the main body sample processing chamber 101 is provided outside the main body portion 105 of the sample processing chamber 101 via a glass window (observation window) 109 provided in the main body portion 105. A CCD camera 117 is provided as an observation means for observing the processed surface.

In this embodiment as well, a shielding member (not shown) that shields a predetermined region of the processed surface of the sample 113 is provided as described in the background art section.
In addition, in order to prevent contamination of the sample 113 that has been shaved with an ion beam during processing from adhering to the glass window 109 and observing the processing state with the CCD camera 117, the sample 113 and the CCD camera 117 can be prevented from being observed. A shielding glass 121 is provided therebetween, and the contamination of the sample 113 is adhered to the shielding glass 121. The shielding glass 121 to which the contamination of the sample 113 adheres needs to be replaced periodically. Therefore, the shielding glass 121 is provided on the sample holder 111 that can be attached / detached to / from the sample processing chamber 101.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 2 which is a C direction arrow view of FIG. 1, since the diameter (indicated by a two-dot chain line) of the ion beam IB is large, the sample holder 111 is cut off. In order to prevent this, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a slit plate 131 is provided in the main body portion 105 of the sample processing chamber 101. In the slit plate 131, a slit 133 is formed between the sample holder 111 and the beam irradiation unit 115 to reduce the diameter of the ion beam IB irradiated from the beam irradiation unit 115. The width (w) of the slit 133 is set such that the ion beam IB does not irradiate the sample holder 111.

  Further, in this embodiment, the slit 133 is provided in the vicinity of the sample 113 as shown in FIG. 1 in order to prevent the diameter from expanding due to the divergence of the ion beam IB as much as possible. Therefore, in the state shown in FIG. 1, in order to replace the sample 113 and clean the shielding glass 121, the sample holder 111 is removed by moving the attaching / detaching portion 107 of the sample processing chamber 101 in the arrow B direction. Then, the shielding glass 121 interferes with the slit plate 131 and the detachable portion 107 cannot be removed. For this reason, in this embodiment, when removing the sample holder 111 from the sample processing chamber 101, the interference prevention means 151 for moving the shielding glass 121 and preventing the interference between the slit plate 131 and the shielding glass 121 is provided.

  Here, the interference prevention means 151 is demonstrated using FIG. 1, FIG. 4-7. 4 is a view showing a state in which the attaching / detaching portion 107 of the sample processing chamber 101 is moved in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 1, FIG. 5 is a view in the direction of arrow D in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the interference preventing means of FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the sample holder 111 is provided with a guide 155 in which a guide hole 153 is formed. In the guide hole 153 of the guide 155, a slide shaft 157 as a moving member having a roller 156 attached to the tip is provided movably.

  The sample holder 111 is rotatably provided with a glass holding member 161 using pins 163. The glass holding member 161 has a substantially L shape including a first member 161a extending in a substantially horizontal direction and a second member 161b extending in a substantially vertical direction. A pin 163 is provided on the end side (rotation base side) of the first member 161a, and a shielding glass 121 is provided on the end side (rotation end side) of the second member 161b. The second member 161b is formed with a slit 161c through which the above-described slide shaft 157 is inserted. Furthermore, cam grooves 165 having openings on the side facing the CCD camera 117 and the glass window 109 and having a bottom portion 165a on the sample holder 111 side are formed on the two inner surfaces facing the slit 161c.

On the other hand, the slide shaft 157 is provided with a cam pin 167 that engages with the cam groove 165.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, in a state where the attachment / detachment portion 107 of the sample processing chamber 101 is attached to the main body portion 105, the roller 156 at the distal end portion of the slide shaft 157 has the inner surface G of the standing wall of the main body portion 105. Can be contacted.

  In this embodiment, the cam pin 167 of the slide shaft 157 and the cam groove 165 of the glass holding member 161 are set so that the glass holding member 161 rotates counterclockwise in the drawing even in the state of FIGS. Has been.

Here, the operation of the above configuration will be described.
First, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 and FIGS. 6 to 7, when the attaching / detaching portion 107 of the sample processing chamber 101 is removed from the main body portion 105, that is, the sample holder provided with the glass holding member 161. When 111 moves in a direction to be removed from the sample processing chamber 101, the glass holding member 161 tilts counterclockwise until the cam pin 167 contacts the upper end of the cam groove 165. At this time, the slide shaft 157 moves in the direction of coming out of the guide hole 153 of the guide 155. Due to the counterclockwise inclination of the glass holding member 161, interference between the shielding glass 121 and the slit plate 131 is avoided.

  Next, as shown in FIGS. 4 to 1 and FIGS. 7 to 6, when the detachable portion 107 of the sample processing chamber 101 is attached to the main body 105, that is, the sample holder provided with the glass holding member 161. When 111 is moved in the direction in which it is attached to the sample processing chamber 101, the glass holding member 161 is attached in an inclined state, that is, in a state where interference between the shielding glass 121 and the slit plate 131 does not occur. Then, after the position where the shielding glass 121 does not interfere with the slit plate 131, the roller 156 of the slide shaft 157 comes into contact with the inner surface G of the standing wall of the main body 105. Then, the slide shaft 157 moves in the direction to be inserted into the guide hole 153 of the guide 155. By the movement of the slide shaft 157, the cam pin 167 pushes the bottom portion 165a of the cam groove 165, and the tilted glass holding member 161 rotates clockwise and returns to the state shown in FIGS.

Therefore, a cam mechanism (positive cam mechanism) is formed by the slide shaft 157 having the cam pins 167 and the glass holding member 161 having the cam grooves 165.
In order to establish this cam mechanism, biasing means for biasing the glass holding member (shielding glass) 161 in a position direction that does not interfere with the slit plate 131, that is, the cam pin 167 and the bottom portion 165a of the cam groove 165 are provided. An urging means for pressing is required. In this embodiment, even in the state of FIGS. 1 and 6, the glass holding member 161 sets the cam pin 167 of the slide shaft 157 and the cam groove 165 of the glass holding member 161 so that the glass holding member 161 rotates counterclockwise in the drawing. In other words, the glass holding member 161 is provided so as to rotate in a position direction in which the shielding glass 121 does not interfere with the slit plate 131 by its own weight, and thus gravity is used as an urging means.

According to such a configuration, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) By providing the slit plate 131 having the slit 133 for reducing the diameter of the ion beam IB irradiated from the beam irradiation means 115, the ion beam IB irradiated to the sample holder 111 is reduced, and the life of the sample holder is shortened. become longer.

 (2) When removing the sample holder 111 from the sample processing chamber 101, the shielding glass 121 is moved, and the interference prevention means 151 for preventing the interference between the slit plate 131 and the shielding glass 121 is provided. The slit 133 can be arranged as close to the sample holder 111 as possible, and the ion beam IB irradiated to the sample holder 111 is further reduced, and the life of the sample holder 111 is extended.

(3) Since the urging means of the cam mechanism is gravity, no urging means such as a spring is required, and the number of parts can be reduced.
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. In the above embodiment, as a biasing means for biasing the glass holding member (shielding glass) 161 in a position direction that does not interfere with the slit plate 131, that is, a biasing means for pressing the bottom portion 165a of the cam pin 167 cam groove 165, Although gravity is used, the glass holding member 161 or the slide shaft 157 may be urged by a spring or the like.

In the above embodiment, the glass holding member 161 is inclined using the cam mechanism. However, the glass holding member 161 may be directly driven to rotate by an actuator such as a motor.
Further, in the above embodiment, when removing the sample holder 111 from the sample processing chamber 101, the glass holding member 161 provided with the shielding glass 121 is moved to prevent interference between the slit plate 131 and the shielding glass 121. However, the slit plate 131 may be moved. Further, the glass holding member 161 and the slit plate 131 may be moved.

It is sectional drawing seen from the front of the thin film sample preparation apparatus of this form example. It is a C direction arrow directional view of FIG. It is a figure explaining the state which provided the slit board in FIG. It is a figure which shows the state which moved the attachment or detachment part of the sample processing chamber in the arrow B direction in FIG. It is a D direction arrow directional view of FIG. It is an enlarged view of the interference prevention means of FIG. It is an enlarged view of the interference prevention means of FIG. It is a block diagram of the conventional thin film sample preparation apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

101 Sample processing chamber 111 Sample holder 115 Beam irradiation means 121 Shield glass 131 Slit plate 151 Interference prevention means

Claims (3)

A sample processing chamber in which the inside is evacuated to a predetermined degree of vacuum;
A sample holder that is attached / detachable to the sample processing chamber and holds the sample in the sample processing chamber when attached to the sample processing chamber;
A beam irradiation means for irradiating the sample held in the sample holder in the sample processing chamber with an ion beam to process the sample into a thin film;
Observation means for observing the processed surface of the sample held by the sample holder in the sample processing chamber;
When the sample holder is provided in the sample holder and is attached to the sample processing chamber, the contamination that is located between the sample holder and the observation unit and is generated during thin film processing of the sample is the observation unit. Shielding glass to prevent adhering to,
A thin film sample preparation device comprising:
A slit that is arranged between the sample holder attached to the sample processing chamber and the beam irradiation means, and narrows the diameter of the ion beam irradiated from the beam irradiation means;
When removing the sample holder from the sample processing chamber, interference prevention means for moving at least one of the slit and the shielding glass to prevent interference between the slit and the shielding glass;
A thin film sample preparation device characterized by comprising: The interference preventing means is
A movable member provided so as to be movable with respect to the sample holder, and when the sample holder is attached to the sample processing chamber, the moving member moves while being pressed against the wall surface of the sample processing chamber;
A glass holding member that is rotatably provided in the sample holder and has the shielding glass attached to the rotating end side;
A biasing means for biasing the shielding glass in a position direction that does not interfere with the slit;
The glass holding member is provided on the moving member and the glass holding member so that when the sample holder is attached to the sample processing chamber, the shielding glass is positioned between the sample holder and the observation means. A cam mechanism for moving the glass holding member so that the shielding glass does not interfere with the slit when the sample holder attached to the sample processing chamber is removed from the sample processing chamber.
The thin film sample preparation apparatus according to claim 1, comprising: The glass holding member is provided to rotate in a position direction in which the shielding glass does not interfere with the slit by its own weight,
3. The thin film sample preparation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the biasing means is gravity.

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