The fairly recent availability of commercial focused ion beam (FIB) microscopes has
led to rapid development of their applications for materials science. FIB instruments
have both imaging and micromachining capabilities at the nanometer–micrometer scale;
thus, a broad range of fundamental studies and technological applications have been
enhanced or made possible with FIB technology. This introductory article covers the
basic FIB instrument and the fundamentals of ion–solid interactions that lead to the
many unique FIB capabilities as well as some of the unwanted artifacts associated with
FIB instruments. The four topical articles following this introduction give overviews of
specific applications of the FIB in materials science, focusing on its particular strengths
as a tool for characterization and transmission electron microscopy sample preparation,
as well as its potential for ion beam fabrication and prototyping.