Cost and Effective Way to Reduce Radiation Damage and Enhance Image Contrast of Beam Sensitive Materials in TEM

The facile way to improve the image contrast of light element such as porous low-k material in TEM while preventing the sample from electron radiation damage was provided. Several experimental parameters were conducted to examine the contrast of oxide layer and damage level of the low-K material, which were monitored by the shrinkage amount of the layer thickness. The improved result can be reproduced successfully by controlling the thickness of the TEM lamella.