High vacuum TEM specimen holder storage, leak check, and plasma cleaning chamber
The TEM cube chamber can be used to store up to eight TEM specimen holders under a high vacuum (ultimate vacuum in the mid-10-7Torr range). The vacuum level is high enough for leaking check of the in-situ TEM chips. It can also be fitted with a remote EM-KLEEN plasma source to perform plasma cleaning in the chamber. The size of the chamber is 9 inches cube. It can fit fairly large TEM and SEM samples and components. The chamber has a glass front door for observation.
The standard pumping configuration is to place the chamber directly on top of a Pfeiffer turbo pump station. But it’s also possible to pump the chamber using a dry scroll pump.
Compared with our regular TEM specimen holder vacuum storage station, each storage port on the TEM cube can’t be individually vented or pumped because all the storage port shares the same big vacuum chamber. It takes longer to retrieve the TEM specimen holder because the whole chamber must be vented to retrieve one stored TEM specimen holder.
It’s possible to use the TEM cube for plasma cleaning of TEM specimen holders and samples if the EM-KLEEN plasma source is installed on the chamber. But EM-KLEEN plasma source can only take one gas input. Standalone Tergeo-EM plasma cleaner can take up to three process gasses. The venting and pumping time on the TEM cube is also longer than the standalone Tergeo-EM plasma system. Tergeo-EM plasma systems also have a fully automatic operation with a higher level of system integration.
Specifications:
- Ultimate vacuum level: mid-10-7Torr
- TEM specimen holder adapters: maximum of eight, four on each side.
- Chamber size: 9-inches X 9 inches X 9 inches.
- Chamber door: hinged glass window with locking knobs.
- Pumping port: ISO63 for the turbopump station on the bottom. Or NW40/NW25 port for dry scroll pumps.
- NW40 or NW25 port for the full range pressure sensor.
Applications:
- High vacuum storage for TEM specimen holders, TEM samples, and large EM components.
- In-situ TEM specimen holder and chip leak check.
- Plasma cleaning of TEM holder, samples, and components.
Related Product:
Tergeo-EM: Fully integrated TEM/SEM plasma cleaner for removing hydrocarbon contaminations and processing cryo-EM grids, and in-Situ chips.
