Model 1070- Simultaneously cleans specimens, specimen holders, and specimen mounts
- No change to elemental composition or structural characteristics
- Multiple gas inlets with mixing capabilities
- Evacuates vacuum storage containers
Simultaneously cleans electron microscopy specimens and holders
The NanoClean automatically and quickly removes organic contamination (hydrocarbon) for microscopy applications. It is multifunctional; it simultaneously cleans electron microscopy specimens, specimen holders, and stubs. It is also ideal for surface science techniques.
The NanoClean features an easy-to-use touchscreen embedded module that allows the user to control individual instrument functions, such as delivered power, chamber pressure, gas mixture, and process time. For dedicated cleaning of electron microscopy specimens and holders, the NanoClean includes a recipe that yields optimal plasma processing conditions. Other recipes are available for applications, such as enhancing the hydrophilic properties of biological support grids.
Enhanced imaging and analysis
Cleaning is solely by reactive gas compounds formed by the plasma chemically reacting with carbonaceous material on the specimen and specimen holder. A low-energy, inductively coupled, high-frequency, downstream plasma effectively cleans the specimen surface without changing its elemental composition or structural characteristics.
In electron microscopes with high brightness electron sources, specimens that are not plasma treated tend to contaminate. The NanoClean ensures confidence that carbonaceous contamination will not interfere with imaging or analysis, even during fine probe microanalysis for extended periods. Highly contaminated specimens can be cleaned in two minutes or less.
Features
The vacuum system for the NanoClean is oil free. The chamber includes a load lock for rapid specimen exchange making the NanoClean ideal for high throughput applications. The NanoClean contains three mass flow controllers and is designed to accept multiple gases. Typically, the time-proven gas mixture of 25% oxygen and 75% argon is connected to one of the gas inlets. The NanoClean is fitted with two additional gas inlets that accept gas supplies that can be blended using the NanoClean's internal mass flow technology. An automatic matching network ensures that the high-frequency power is effectively coupled to the plasma and the delivered power is suited for the application. The matching network regulates plasma power for a variety of conditions, objects to be processed, or gases employed.
Standard and specialized specimen holders
The NanoClean readily accepts one or two side-entry specimen holders for all commercial transmission, scanning transmission, and scanning electron microscopes. An additional port allows large, bulk objects to be placed in the chamber for processing. This is ideal for scanning electron microscopy or surface science applications. A specialized specimen holder port allows the cleaning of specimens contained on carbon grids.