Specimen holder for high resolution scanning transmission electron microscope enables atomic behaviour of materials at high temperatures to be examined
Hitachi High-Technologies has introduced a directly heated specimen holder for use with the high resolution HD-2300 scanning transmission electron microscope (Stem).
This new accessory allows the atomic behaviour of materials at high temperatures to be examined.
The accessory features a tungsten element which can be heated to in excess of 1500C.
By covering the heater with a 30nm thick carbon film, the system can be used to investigate the properties of nanoparticles at high temperatures.
Specimens on the film can be heated to approximately 1000C.
Using the integral video recording system of the HD-2300, dynamic events can be recorded as a function of temperature, using bright field, dark field and secondary electron imaging.
A new technical datasheet (Stem No 12), reporting on the use of this accessory, has been published by Hitachi.
Entitled High resolution Stem observation of nano particles at high temperatures, this document covers in-situ observation of the melting of ZnS particles, EDX analysis of gold nanoparticles and dynamic observation of the surface and atomic rearrangement of gold nanoparticles at around 300C.
Copies of this document are available by email from Hitachi.
