Minimizing damage during FIB sample preparation of soft materials

Summary Although focused ion beam (FIB) microscopy has been used successfully for milling patterns and creating ultra‐thin electron and soft X‐ray transparent sections of polymers and other soft materials, little has been documented regarding FIB‐induced damage of these materials beyond qualitative evaluations of microstructure. In this study, we sought to identify steps in the FIB preparation process that can cause changes in chemical …