Abstract Understanding solder joints is very important for failure analysis in semiconductor manufacturing because it is commonly used for mounting semiconductor devices on boards. However, regarding sample preparation for analysis, solder poses challenges in crosssection preparation due to the differences in melting point and hardness of its constituents. Therefore, precision cutting methods such as ion milling are required. On the other hand, ion milling method usually causes thermal damage during cutting. In this paper, we tried to optimize the sample temperature during Ar ion milling using liquid nitrogen cooling [1].