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AssigneeFEI Company
InventorsStephanus Hubertus Leonardus van den Boom, Pleun Dona, Laurens Franz Taemsz Kwakman, Uwe Luecken, Hervé-William Rémigy, Hendrik Nicolaas Slingerland, Martin Verheijen, Gerbert Jeroen van der Water
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A method of determining the temperature of a sample carrier in a charged particle-optical apparatus, characterized in that the method comprises the observation of the sample carrier with a beam of charged particles, the observation giving information about the temperature of the sample carrier. The invention is based on the insight that a charged particle optical apparatus, such as a TEM, STEM, SEM or FIB, can be used to observe temperature related changes of a sample carrier. The changes may be mechanical changes (e.g. of a bimetal), crystallographic changes (e.g. of a perovskite), and luminescent changes (in intensity or decay time). In a preferred embodiment the sample carrier shows two bimetals, showing metals with different thermal expansion coefficients, bending in opposite directions. The distance between the two bimetals is used as a thermometer.
A method of determining the temperature of a sample carrier in a charged particle-optical apparatus, the method comprising observation of the sample carrier with a beam of charged particles, the observation of the sample carrier giving information about the temperature of the sample carrier.
A sample carrier in a charged particle-optical apparatus, the sample carrier showing a crystalline part, the crystalline part showing one or more phase changes in a temperature range of interest.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.