Crenellated sample holder and sputter target for sample preparation in cryo electron microscopy applications
AssigneeFEI Company
InventorChad Rue
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
To reduce charging artifacts in electron microscopy, a notched ring of sputterable material can be situated about a sample surface. An ion beam can be directed through a notch at to sputter the sputterable material onto the sample surface. Sputtering can be performed after low-angle focused ion beam (FIB) milling at the same sample tilts. The sample can be rotated about an axis and sputtering performed at multiple rotation angles. Upon sputtering of the conductive coating, the sample can be reoriented and imaged. These steps can be repeated to produce a 2D image stack for 3D image reconstruction.
Claims22
A sputtering target for a sample situated for charged particle beam milling in a charged-particle beam (CPB) instrument, comprising:
- a conductive material defining an internal cavity adapted to receive the sample at a sample surface, the conductive material defining at least one window that provides a glancing angle CPB processing path to the sample surface as situated in the CPB instrument;
- and
- a first sputterable material situated opposite the at least one window to define a CPB sputtering path through the at least one window to the first sputterable material.
A method comprising:
- directing a CPB through a window in a sample mount to a sputtering target at a glancing angle with respect to a sample surface to sputter a conductive material on at least a portion of the sample surface;
- and
- directing a CPB through the window to the sample surface at a glancing angle to process at least a portion of the sample surface.
A sample holder for electron microscopy, comprising:
- a crenellated circular conductive ring of a sputterable material defining an interior volume;
- and
- a conductive sample support adapted to retain a sample within the interior volume defined by crenellated circular conductive ring.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.