A simple, quick and reliable method for TEM cross-section preparation of ceramic oxide films on thin metal substrates

We present a preparation method of cross-sectional thin foils for transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Samples are 0.1-1 m thick ceramic oxide films (CeO2, CeO2-YBa2Cu3O7 and CeO2-ZrO2/YO2-YBa2Cu3O7) epitaxially grown on 30-100 m highly textured nickel substrates. This method includes gluing the sample between a copper oxide dummy and a silicon dummy, followed by mechanical polishing and conventional ion milling. TEM cross-sectional samples obtained with this selection of dummies are electron-transparent up to a few tens of m parallel to the film surface. Several layer structures were analyzed by TEM and the results are shown. The preparation technique described here can be applied to any type of oxide film deposited on thin metal substrates.