Equipment
Tripod Polisher
Model:
South Bay Technology Tripod Polisher
Capabilities:
This tool is capable of making electron transparent thin areas of a bulk sample for TEM observation.
Cost:
Calendar for Reservations:
Specifications:
The Tripod Polisher was designed to accurately prepare TEM and SEM samples of pre-specified, micron-sized regions. For TEM samples, this technique has been used successfully to limit ion milling times to less than 15 minutes and, in some cases, has eliminated the need for ion milling. Although this technique was designed for preparing semiconductor cross-sections, it has been used to prepare both plan-view and cross-section samples from such diverse materials as ceramics, composites, metals, and geological samples.
The basis for this technique is sequential polishing using finer diamond-embedded plastic sheets, to ultimately provide an area suitable for direct TEM observation. The tripod sample holder simplifies this polishing process.