Focused ion beams are an essential tool for cross-sectional material analysis at the microscale, preparing TEM samples, and much more. New plasma ion sources allow for higher beam currents and options to use unconventional ion species, resulting in increased versatility over a broader range of substrate materials. In this paper, we present the results of a four-material study from five different ion species at varying beam energies. This, of course, is a small sampling of the enormous variety of potential specimen and ion species combinations. We show that milling rates and texturing artifacts are quite varied. Therefore, there is a need for a systematic exploration of how different ion species mill different materials. There is so much to be done that it should be a community effort. Here, we present a publicly available automation script used to both measure sputter rates and characterize texturing artifacts as well as a collaborative database to which anyone may contribute. We also put forth some ideas for new applications of focused ion beams with novel ion species.

中文翻译：

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用多离子物种等离子体聚焦离子束进行材料溅射

聚焦离子束是微尺度截面材料分析，制备TEM样品等必不可少的工具。新的等离子体离子源允许更高的束流，并且可以选择使用非常规离子种类，从而在更大范围的基板材料上增加了多功能性。在本文中，我们介绍了五种不同离子种类在不同束能量下的四材料研究结果。当然，这只是大量潜在样品和离子物种组合的一小部分。我们显示出铣削速率和纹理化伪像变化很大。因此，需要系统地探索不同的离子种类如何研磨不同的材料。有很多事情要做，应该是社区的努力。这里，我们提供了一个公开可用的自动化脚本，该脚本可用于测量溅射率和表征纹理伪像，以及一个任何人都可以贡献的协作数据库。我们还针对具有新颖离子种类的聚焦离子束的新应用提出了一些想法。