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High Resolution Imaging Target using Hafnium Carbide

Refractory metal carbides are unique materials owing to their high melting point, hard nature, and relatively low work function. In particular, hafnium carbide has one of the highest melting points of any material at ~3950° C.

Fig. 1. HfC resolution targets mounted on a standard specimen mount. Standard or custom mounts are available for other SEM or FIB systems, e-mail sales@a-p-tech.com for more information.

Over the years Applied Physics Technologies has studied several parameters of HfC including work function, resistance to ion sputtering, and secondary electron yield. Hafnium carbide has demonstrated a high resistance to ion sputtering under several operational conditions. In addition, Applied Physics Technologies has shown this material to have a very high secondary electron yield. This combination makes hafnium carbide an excellent candidate for obtaining resolution measurements using electron or ion beams. We offer zone refined, polycrystalline HfC mounted on standard SEM sample holders (see Fig. 1) for SEM and FIB resolution imaging targets. Fig. 2 shows SEM images of a variety of typical surface structures used for aid in alignment and resolution determination of SEM or FIB systems.

Fig. 2: Images of typical surface features on polycrystalline zone refined HfC samples.