AbstractThe aim of this paper is to show how a focused ion beam combined with a scanning electron microscope (FIB/SEM machine) can be adopted to characterize composite fibers with different electrical behavior and to gain information about their production and modification. This comparative morphology investigation is carried out on polyacrylonitrile (PAN) carbon fibers and their chemical precursor (the oxidized PAN or oxypan) which has different electrical properties. Fibers are imaged by electron and ion beams and sectioned by the focused ion beam (FIB). A sample of oxypan fibers processed by a radio frequency (RF) plasma is also investigated and the role of the conductive carbon layer around their unmodified, insulating bulk is discussed. A suitable developed edge detection technique (EDT) on electron, ion images, and after the FIB sectioning, provides quantitative information about the thickness of the created layer. SCANNING 29: 000–000, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.