For large-scale cross-sectioning and delayering of heterogeneous materials, Tescan FemtoChisel™ uses true femtosecond laser processing to deliver material removal rates up to 2,000× faster than Xe plasma FIB and up to 10,000× faster than Ga FIB. This boosts lab productivity while reducing time-to-sample and cost-per-sample.
Tescan FemtoChisel™ is a femtosecond laser micro and nano machining system for sample preparation, micro and nano fabrication, failure analysis, and surface modification.Designed for semiconductor, glass processing, materials research, and biomedical device manufacturing workflows, it helps users access buried regions of interest, prepare clean surfaces, and accelerate downstream analysis.
With precise laser processing and software-guided workflows, it supports both routine preparation and advanced research tasks, providing teams with a flexible platform for working with complex materials, layered devices, and application-specific structures.
- Intelligent Multi-Gas Processing
- Laser protective layer
- Multi Degrees of Freedom Stage System with Tilt, Rotation @ wafer level
- Correlative Multi-resolution
Machine Vision & Targeting System
- Software selectable Multi-Wavelength Laser Source ranging from Infrared to Green
- Real-time Surface and Ablation
Monitoring with material adaptability
- Preloaded Intelligent user-friendly recipes for numerous laser processing applications
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Tescan FemtoChisel™ in Semiconductors
High-precision laser micromachining for semiconductor sample preparation and failure analysis
- Adaptive multi-material processing, with proprietary intelligent multi-gas processing and laser protective layer that preserve device integrity across metals, polymers, and advanced packaging stacks.
- High-throughput access to buried structures with taper-corrected, debris-free cross-sections – often eliminating the need for post FIB polishing.
- Selective backside thinning with mirror-like surfaces (Ra < 0.4 µm), enabling optical fault analysis without artifacts.
- Large-area delayering (5–10 mm) with automated endpointing for accurate layer-by-layer removal at laser speeds.
- By uniting laser processing, electron microscopy, and FIB into complementary workflows, Tescan is helping semiconductor innovators overcome traditional bottlenecks in sample preparation. FemtoChisel™ serves both recipe-driven environments and flexible research in advanced packaging and R&D labs, providing a versatile solution for current and future semiconductor demands.
Tescan FemtoChisel™ accelerates semiconductor workflows that demand speed, precision, and surface integrity. Operating in the non-thermal ablation regime, it enables engineers to access deeply buried regions of interest without microcracks, melt zones, or redeposition. The system delivers reproducible, analysis-ready results across advanced devices, supporting physical failure analysis, process development, and reverse engineering.
Laser Only Large X section of an Intel 14 nm processor with no FIB polish
Large Area Cross-Sectioning
Tescan FemtoChisel™ enables rapid, high-quality cross-sectioning across millimeter-scale areas, with minimal heat-affected zone formation and debris, even in highly heterogeneous material stacks. In many workflows, the resulting surfaces are suitable for analysis before FIB polishing, accelerating time-to-data and reserving FIB processing for the areas where it adds the most value.
Apple A15 package Laser Only Large area Delayering with High Surface Quality
Microelectronics Delayering
Tescan FemtoChisel™ enables controlled, layer-by-layer removal of complex microelectronic stacks, including highly heterogeneous materials, while minimizing damage to underlying structures. Integrated depth-based end pointing supports accurate stopping at target layers, producing surfaces suitable for many analysis workflows. Final FIB polishing can be applied only where ultra-high surface refinement is required. The current page already highlights large-area delayering of 5 to 10 mm with automated end pointing for layer-by-layer removal at laser speeds.
Laser-Only Fabricated Micropillars <20um diameter with Unprecedented Surface and Wall Quality
Micro and Nano Fabrication for Beamline, CT and APT
Tescan FemtoChisel™ enables precise micro- and nanoscale material removal for site-specific sample preparation in advanced characterization workflows, including synchrotron beamlines, nano-CT, and atom probe tomography (APT). High-quality surfaces and minimal damage help reduce downstream preparation time, with optional final FIB refinement applied only where needed.
Laser-only 50 µm × 50 µm × 100 µm-deep trenches with a 3 µm-thick bridge fabricated in ~30 seconds. All 12 trenches can be machined in <7 minutes
TEM Sample Preparation
Tescan FemtoChisel™ creates initial trenches and bridge structures, typically 1 to 3 µm thick, for TEM sample preparation with controlled laser processing, high precision, and minimal damage. This supports parallel preparation of multiple TEM lamellae, while final thinning and undercutting are completed in FIB only where needed. The result is a more efficient workflow with reduced FIB workload and faster preparation.
Laser-only large X section of an AMOLED display with all layers, including the glass layer, intact and free of cracks.
Glass Processing
Tescan FemtoChisel™ enables high-quality cross-sectioning of AMOLED display stacks, precise hole drilling in glass, and micro- and nanoscale fabrication with minimal cracking and thermal damage. Its ultrafast laser processing creates clean features in brittle and transparent materials, supporting both direct analysis and advanced device fabrication workflows
Tescan FemtoChisel™ Hierarchically Restructured (HSR), a medical device (Image courtesy of Dr. Amini & Integer Holding).
Surface Texturing
Tescan FemtoChisel™ enables precise, repeatable surface texturing at micro- and nanoscale, including the creation of complex 3D structures for tailored properties such as wettability, adhesion, and optical response. Its ultrafast laser processing minimizes thermal damage, supporting consistent structuring across a broad range of materials, including metals, polymers, and brittle substrates.
Technical specification
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with specialist
