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CoatMaster
Novel Carbon-Coating Unit for Non-Conducting TEM-Foils
Technology
Selective deposition of TEM sample periphery
Benefit
Avoidance of charging and contamination in analytical TEM, HRTEM, CBED, and in situ TEM without any carbon interactions.
Features
Features
Electrostatic charging of TEM samples can be completely avoided by selective deposition of a conducting (carbon) film. Using the cemm - CoatMaster, electron transparent regions of the TEM foil are excluded from carbon deposition. Carbon contamination during analytical TEM, impairment of HRTEM images by amorphous C-layers, and interaction with carbon upon in situ annealing is thereby effectively suppressed. Specific mask geometries available at 3D-Micromac allow to match various hole geometries.
Function
After placing the standard TEM sample in the central cut-out of the lower unit of the cemm - CoatMaster, a suitable mask is mounted in the upper unit. Using a stereo microscope (observation in reflected and/or transmitted light), the relative orientation of sample and blind is adjusted corresponding to the specific hole geometry. During transfer into the film deposition chamber, both units are kept in place by three magnets embedded into the lower unit.
Example
Alumina is highly insulating and generally requires coating with a conducting thin carbon film prior to TEM inspection. Charging was not observed during EDXS analysis (400 keV acceleration voltage, 5 nm spot, and 5 min) nor upon HRTEM imaging.