A site-specific focused-ion-beam lift-out method for cryo Transmission Electron Microscopy

• The focused-ion-beam (FIB) is the method of choice for site-specific sample preparation for Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) in material sciences. A lamella can be physically lifted out from a specific region of a bulk specimen with submicrometer precision and thinned to electron transparency for high-resolution imaging in the TEM. The possibility to use this tool in life sciences applications has been limited by the lack of lift-out capabilities at the cryogenic temperatures often needed for biological samples. Conventional cryo-TEM sample preparation is mostly based on ultramicrotomy, a procedure that is not site-specific and known to produce artifacts. Here we demonstrate how a cooled nanomanipulator and a custom-built transfer station can be used to achieve cryo-preparation of TEM samples with the FIB, enabling high-resolution investigation of frozen-hydrated specimens in the TEM.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Mikrobiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Microbiology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Cryo-EM

Cryo-FIB

Cryo-SEM

Cryo-TEM

FIB

Frozen-hydrated sample

Sample preparation

Specimen thinning

TEM

Teknisk fysik med inriktning mot materialvetenskap

Engineering Science with specialization in Materials Science

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)