ZEISS Crossbeam​

Due to greater manufacturing quality and cutting-edge surface finishing technologies, defects are now smaller and less frequent. Microscopic methods must therefore be used to find, locate, prepare, and investigate surface defects and their root causes. This brochure outlines a correlative microscopy approach for efficient investigation during failure analysis.​

In this context, light microscopy tasks are handled by the ZEISS Smartzoom 5 digital microscope, preparation and investigation are carried out with the ZEISS Crossbeam laser, and both systems are correlated by ZEISS ZEN Connect for precise defect relocation in the FIB-SEM.​

Finding the root cause of sparsely distributed and small defects on large samples for efficient failure analysis requires a convenient workflow of locating, documenting, re-locating, preparing, and investigating regions of interest. ​

Scanning electron microscopes with a focused ion beam (FIB-SEM) overcome the limitations of conventional materialographic sample preparation. However, since electron microscopes typically have a limited field of view, it is sometimes easier to perform the localization step on a light microscope. For this reason, users need a system that allows them to localize the image area in the light microscope and then retrieve it in the FIB-SEM.

The ZEISS ZEN Connect software solution combines with ZEISS ZEN Data Storage to provide exactly this. The new femtosecond laser for the ZEISS Crossbeam family also offers location-specific preparation in large areas. With the help of fs-laser and FIB cross-section polishing and EDS analysis, the cause of the surface defects in the above example was determined as carbon fiber scraps. ​

The correlative microscopy approach also enables efficient investigation of more than one area of interest. All results are subsequently saved in a coherent project, with the ZEISS ZEN Data Storage option ensuring full accessibility for further investigation or reporting.​