Industrial Liaison Office
Specimen Environments
Standard specimen supports for the I08-SXM:
Silicon nitride membranes
Preferred are TEM type Silicon nitride membranes with 2.65 mm width. Different membrane width (<1 mm) and membrane thicknesses (<100 nm) can be mounted.
Please note: We do not support anymore Silicon nitride with larger frame sizes !
EM grid with C-clip ring
All standard EM grids with 3mm diameter can be mounted in the I08-SXM specimen holder. We prefer to have the grids mounted in C-clip rings or 'autogrids'.
Many of the experiments at I08-SXM deal with the interaction of organic and inorganic matter, and due to the high radiation dose applied to the specimen, the highest priority is liquid nitrogen, cryo-cooled specimen handling. Such includes special specimen preparation tools as for example a fast-freeze plunger to avoid ice-crystal formation, and a semi-automated LN2 specimen transfer system to minimise preparation to analysis times. The specimen transfer system can also be used for room temperature applications.
Cryo- and room-temperature specimen holder
I08-SXM specimen holder for cryo and room temperature operation is a customised Leica-type holder.
The specimen is clipped under the two Cu springs.
Other specimen environments currently under consideration or development:
- Static closed wet cell for in-situ analysis of chemical reactions and controlled temperature and pH, and electromagnetic biasing;
- Micro-fluidic cell for chemical reactions;
- Micro-heating devices with temperatures up to 200 deg Celsius.
Custom specimen environments can be implemented but this requires contacting us far in advance as the I08-SXM optomechanical geometry allows only very limited space.
Specimen thicknesses need to be adapted due to the absorption properties of X-rays at these photon energies. As a rule of thumb. organic matter gives good contrast for a few micron thickness, bulk metallic constituents should not exceed 50 - 100nm in thickness
Specimen environments that are technically not feasible:
- Specimens that cannot be mounted on EM grids or TEM-type Si membranes;
- Specimen with thicknesses not adapted to allow sufficient X-ray transmission signals;
- Application of external magnetic fields;
- Cooling down liquid He temperatures;
- Heating of a specimen.
