Scanning helium ion microscopy (HIM) is an innovative method to characterize surface of various materials. With a secondary electron detector (SED) and a micro plate detector (CPD), Orion Plus system can obtain surface information including morphology , composition, and crystal orientation. [1, 2] Improve the abilities of characterization of materials with HIM will benefit the develop of new materials, such as structure materials including metals, ceramics and others.

In this presentation, we will show the investigation of the crystal structure of metal with HIM. We prepared an sample stage with a reflector that can be used to obtain the transmission helium ions intensities in the samples. With this sample stage, we observed the Ni-Co base super alloy and aerogel composed with hollow nanosphere. The Rutherford backscattered image (RBI) of metal surface show different orientation of poly crystal. The nano-twins and other defects in Ni-Co base superalloy were investigated by HIM in scanning and transmission mode. The nano-twins also be observed by other techniques, such as transmission electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction. The scattering of helium ions with different energy was analyzed. This work provide some new methods to improve the research on defects and structure of crystal.

[1]. H. X. Guo, D. Fujita, Scanning helium ion microscopy, Characterization of Materials, 2rd Edition(Wiley, New York, 2012)

[2]. H. X. Guo. J. H. Gao, M. S. Xu, D. Fujita, Applied Physics Letters, 104, 031607 , 2014