
Conventional mechanical polishing or cutting techniques on soft and composite materials apply significant lateral sheer forces to the sample and often result in cross section surface artefacts such as scratches, smearing, wash-out of softer materials, delamination and other damage.
In contrast, ion beam sputtering is a stress-free physical process whereby atoms are ejected from a target material due to bombardment of the target by energetic particles.
Mirror-surface quality cross sections are formed by placing an ion beam resistant mask in such way onto a sample surface that one half of the vertically incident ion beam is blocked by the mask. The other half of the ion beam gradually removes the sample material protruding from the mask, so that a straight cross sectional plain is formed below the edge of the protective mask.
The range of materials and samples applicable to ion cross section milling is not limited to hard matter; even "soft" samples such as paper, polymers, and even powders allow high-quality sectioning in the IM4000.