title: Application of a focused ion beam mill to the characterisation of a microstructure in tin plating on a Fe 42wt% Ni substrate.
abstract: The application of a focused ion beam (FIB) mill equipped with a microsampling unit to a tin-plated specimen was reported briefly. Tin-plating has a serious problem: Whiskers are liable to grow on the surface of tinplates. In order to clarify the mechanism of the whisker growth, detail characterisation is conducted using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). However, it is difficult to prepare specimens for TEM observation without the influences of mechanical damages. It was demonstrated that FIB etching was successfully used to observe a three-dimensional microstructure by scanning ion microscopy (FIB-imaging) and to prepare thin films for TEM observation. The observation has revealed the formation of precipitates of Ni(3)Sn(4) that is considered to be strongly related to the whisker growth.
authors.affiliation: Art, Science and Technology Center for Cooperative Research, Kyushu University, Kasuga, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan.
authors.forename: Noriyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kuwano
authors.lastname: Jia-Yu
authors.forename: Ryota
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tajima
authors.forename: Shin-ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koga
authors.forename: Shuya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsukamoto
authors.forename: Yasuhide
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohno
mesh_terms: D007501:Iron; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D009532:Nickel; D013048:Specimen Handling; D014001:Tin / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014001:Tin; D009532:Nickel; D007501:Iron