A combined focused-ion beam / scanning electron microscope FIB-SEM

The object of the tender process was a combined focused-ion beam / scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM) equipped with field-emission gun (FEG) electron source, state-of-the-art detector system, and equipment suitable for materials in-situ testing inside the microscope chamber (later also “Equipment”). A combined focused-ion beam / scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM) equipped with field-emission gun (FEG) electron source, state-of-the-art detector system, and equipment suitable for materials in-situ testing inside the microscope chamber. The electron beam should operate flexile from 0.5 kV to 30 kV with reasonable beam currents for analyses. The ion beam system should operate similarly in a flexible manner up to 30 kV and provide adequate resolution and milling rates for the materials, which are mainly steels. Automated ion milling software should be included with possibilities to perform 3D examinations and to pre-fabricate specimens for high-end techniques such as Atom Probe Tomography (APT) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The FIB-SEM system should provide fast high-quality detectors for the techniques that are mostly applied: Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD), and Electron Channeling Contrast Imaging (ECCI) investigations. The technical specification of the equipment and the tender process to be supplied was discussed in more detail in the invitation to tender documents.