What is an Electron Microscpe?

A group of microscopes that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of radiation is called electron microscopes.

What is Electron Microscopy?

Electron microscopy (EM) is a technique for obtaining high-resolution images of biological and non-biological samples. Electron microscopy is used in biomedical research to examine the exact structure of tissues, cells, organs, and macromolecular complexes. The high resolution of electron microscope images is due to the use of electrons as radiation sources.

Electron Microscope Vs. Optical (Light) Microscope

Because the wavelength of an electron beam is 100,000 times shorter than the wavelength of visible light photons, electron microscopes have far greater detection power than light microscopes. These microscopes can provide a structural image of the smallest objects with a resolution better than 50 picometers. Electron microscopes have a magnification of more than 10 million times, while optical microscopes have a resolution of 200 nanometers and a magnification of less than 2000 times due to the limitation of the diffraction phenomenon.

What are the Types of Electron Microscopes?

Types of electron microscopes include four main types: Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) Reflection electron microscope (REM) Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM)

Scanning electron microscopy is based on the emission of secondary electrons. Due to the fact that the secondary electrons have low energy, they have a small mean free path in solid materials and move at the surface to a depth of a few nanometers.

A transmission electron microscope is used to look at thin specimens (tissue sections, molecules, etc.) through which electrons pass and produce an image. TEM is in many ways similar to a conventional light microscope. TEM is used to image intracellular space (in thin sections), the structure of protein molecules (using the Metal Shadowing technique), the structure of molecules in viruses and skeletal filaments, and the arrangement of protein molecules in cell membranes.

What are the Advantages of Electron Microscopes?

Exceptionally high magnification Extremely high resolution Provides investigation in a greater depth of field

DST2-TG: Introducing New Product

Last updated on December 26th, 2023

An Overview of DST2-TG: Sputter Coater & Thermal Evaporator for Glove Box

VacCoat Ltd. has successfully designed and manufactured a new product, desk sputter coater and thermal evaporator for glove box, DST2-TG. This turbo-pump equipped coating system can perform thin film depositions by high-vacuum switchable sputtering and thermal evaporation techniques, enabling multilayer deposition, without breaking the vacuum condition.

DST2-TG

Multilayer Coatings by Switchable Sputtering and Thermal Evaporation

DST2-TG contains two sputtering cathodes and a pair of high-current electrodes for loading one thermal evaporation source, where the number of cathodes/evaporation sources could be modified due to costumer demands, with an overall three deposition sources accessible. Carbon deposition is also made possible by loading carbon fiber on the high-current electrodes.

Sputtering Process

Thermal Evaporators

Sputter Coater

Coating under Highly Controllable Vacuum Condition

VacCoat Ltd. has introduced DST2-TG to meet the demands of its valuable customers for preparing high-purity coatings and better control over vacuum conditions, made possible by glove box mounted systems like sputter coater/thermal evaporator for glove box –DST2-TG. With the use of deposition systems inside a glove box, the vacuum level could be highly controlled, suitable for deposition of oxidizing coatings.

Vac Coat product DST2-TG All Chamber | Desk Sputter Coater and Thermal Evaporator for Glove Box

Oxidizing, non-oxidizing and noble metals can be deposited by this coating device. According to the customer, the coating system can be offered with a radio-frequency (RF) power supply to do RF sputtering for insulating/semi-conductor targets deposition. Plasma cleaner is another optional facility provided for this model.

What is Plasma Cleaning?

What is RF Sputtering?

A Quick View on DST2-TG Specifications

Sputter coater and thermal evaporator for glove box, DST2-TG, with a 7” colored touch-screen panel using user-friendly software to control and adjust the deposition process data, can be connected to pc through a Wi-Fi connection; granting access to the panel window on pc while the system is mounted in a glove box.

vac product DST2-TG Three Shots Square without Frame Grey Big Border

Important Features of DST2-TG

Another key features of DST2-TG coating system include:

Glovebox mounted KF40 feedthroughs
Two-stage rotary vane backing pump
Full range vacuum gauge
Large chamber (300 mm diameter, 20-25 cm height) suitable for large specimen depositions
Electrical lift arm to ride up and down the vacuum chamber
Two 2” water–cooled sputtering cathodes
Easy and quick target installation: No target holder needed
Boosted heat conduction utilizing targets with backing plate
Two quartz crystal sensors (1 nm precision) for real-time thickness measurement
Gas injection control through MFCs
Electronic shutters
Cathode selection motor
Sample rotation, height and tilt adjustable
Manual or automatic timed and thickness deposition
Storing coating up to 8 recipes for repeatable depositions

Vac Coat product DST2-TG with Gove Box | Desk Sputter Coater and Thermal Evaporator with Glove Box

DST2-TG Applications

This coating system is optimized for thin film deposition utilized in micro-nano electronics, sensors, solar cells, Li-ion batteries, and many other applications. Also, DST2-TG sputter coater/thermal evaporator can be used for sample preparation for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and field emission-SEM (FESEM) analysis. If you are interested about electron microscopes and history of electron microscope, you can read more about them here.

Perovskite Solar Cells

What is SEM?

FESEM vs SEM

For more information please click on the following link.

Vac Coat product DST2-TG with Glove Box | Desk Sputter Coater and Thermal Evaporator for Glove Box

Glove box systems provide a protected environment for sensitive material, preventing any contact with air or humidity and unwanted interactions. DST2-TG high-vacuum coating system with glove box offers safe and clean substrate handling before or after a deposition process under inert gas atmosphere, and a highly controllable chamber environment, contributing to high purity thin layer deposition under high vacuum conditions.

DST2-TG