FemtoChisel – High-Speed Laser Micromachining

TESCAN FemtoChisel™ is an advanced femtosecond laser micromachining system that dramatically accelerates sample preparation for electron microscopy, failure analysis and advanced materials research. By combining ultrafast laser processing with intelligent software automation and precision targeting, FemtoChisel enables researchers to rapidly expose regions of interest while preserving sample integrity for downstream SEM, FIB-SEM, TEM and analytical workflows.

Unlike conventional focused ion beam (FIB) milling, FemtoChisel removes large volumes of material in seconds rather than hours, significantly reducing preparation time while minimising thermal damage, redeposition and surface artefacts. The result is faster access to critical features, improved laboratory productivity and more efficient use of valuable FIB-SEM instruments.

How the FemtoChisel Works

Key Benefits

Accelerate Sample Preparation by More Than 90%

FemtoChisel uses true femtosecond laser ablation to remove material up to 2,000 times faster than Xe plasma FIB and 10,000 times faster than conventional Ga FIB for large-volume cross-sectioning and delayering. This dramatically reduces turnaround time for electron microscopy workflows.

Preserve Sample Integrity

Operating in the ultrafast, non-thermal ablation regime, FemtoChisel produces exceptionally clean surfaces with:

• Minimal heat affected zone (<0.2 µm)
• Virtually no melting or microcracking
• Minimal redeposition
• Reduced curtaining
• Excellent surface quality for downstream analysis

This substantially reduces the amount of final FIB polishing required.

Access Deeply Buried Regions of Interest

Rapid bulk material removal enables researchers to expose deeply buried structures within complex, multi-material samples while maintaining excellent targeting accuracy.

Improve FIB-SEM Productivity

By completing bulk milling with the femtosecond laser, valuable FIB instrument time is reserved only for final polishing or TEM lamella thinning. This increases utilisation of expensive FIB-SEM systems and improves laboratory throughput.

Process Virtually Any Material

Dual-wavelength laser operation, intelligent multi-gas processing and adaptive process recipes enable reliable machining of:

• Silicon
• Metals
• Ceramics
• Glass
• Polymers
• Composite materials
• Advanced semiconductor packages
• Brittle materials

This makes FemtoChisel particularly well suited to heterogeneous samples that are difficult to process using conventional techniques.

Applications

TEM Sample Preparation

FemtoChisel dramatically reduces TEM lamella preparation times by rapidly machining coarse trenches and bridge structures prior to final FIB thinning. Multiple lamellae can be prepared in parallel, significantly improving throughput while reducing FIB workload.

Application examples include:

• Large-Area Cross-Sectioning – Produce millimetre-scale cross-sections with exceptional surface quality for SEM imaging, EDS, EBSD and failure analysis
• Semiconductor Failure Analysis – Rapidly expose buried circuitry, TSVs, advanced packaging structures and device layers with minimal damage, enabling efficient physical failure analysis and process development
• Microelectronics Delayering – Perform controlled, layer-by-layer removal of complex integrated circuits and semiconductor packages with automated endpoint detection for accurate access to target layers
• Atom Probe Tomography (APT) – Prepare site-specific specimens more efficiently while reducing downstream FIB preparation time
• Synchrotron and X-ray Microscopy – Machine precise specimens for nano-CT and synchrotron imaging workflows with excellent dimensional control
• Glass and Brittle Materials Processing – Machine difficult materials such as glass, ceramics and display stacks with minimal cracking or thermal damage
• Surface Engineering – Create micro- and nanoscale surface textures for research into wettability, adhesion, optical properties and biomedical device performance.

Why Electron Microscopists Choose FemtoChisel

Traditional FIB milling remains the gold standard for nanoscale sample preparation, but it is not optimised for removing large material volumes. FemtoChisel complements existing FIB-SEM workflows by performing rapid bulk excavation before final ion beam finishing.
This hybrid workflow delivers:

For facilities with high sample volumes, FemtoChisel can significantly increase the productivity of existing electron microscopy infrastructure.

Typical Research Areas

FemtoChisel is ideally suited to researchers working in:

Why Buy TESCAN FemtoChisel from AXT?

As TESCAN’s Australian and New Zealand partner, AXT provides local sales, applications support and service for advanced electron microscopy solutions. Our experienced microscopy specialists can help integrate FemtoChisel into existing SEM and FIB-SEM workflows, enabling researchers to dramatically reduce preparation times while improving sample quality and laboratory productivity.
Whether your focus is semiconductor failure analysis, TEM sample preparation, advanced materials characterisation or microfabrication, AXT can help determine how FemtoChisel can accelerate your workflow and maximise the return on your microscopy investment.