Deposition of metallic gallium on re-crystallized ceramic material during focused ion beam milling

We report a new kind of artifact observed in the preparation of a TEM sample of zirconia by FIB, which consists in the deposition of metallic gallium nano-dots on the TEM sample surface. High resolution TEM images showed a microstructure of fine equiaxed grains of ~ 5 nm, with some of them possessing two particular characteristics: high contrast and well-defined fast Fourier transform. These grains could not be identified as any phase of zirconia but it was possible to identify them as gallium crystals in the zone axis [110]. Based on HRTEM simulations, the possible orientations between zirconia substrate and deposited gallium are discussed in terms of lattice mismatch and oxygen affinity.