System and method for a workstation for handling electron microscopy specimens in variable environments
AssigneeSimple Origin, Inc.
InventorsPushkarraj Deshmukh, Jacob Schade, Nicholas Zurawsky
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This is a portable workstation designed for an electron microscopy (EM) specimen holder that allows for the handling of specimens in a gas or vacuum environment. The workstation comprises a mechanism for interfacing with an object in a gas or vacuum environment using a handling tool, resembling tweezers in an example. The mechanism may enable a user to manipulate the handling tool within the gas or vacuum environment with the requisite dexterity while working from a separate environment, such as across a hermetically sealed interface.
Claims20
A portable workstation for an electron microscopy (EM) specimen holder, comprising:
- a hermetically sealable chamber housing defining an interior working volume,
- a lid configured to hermetically seal the chamber housing, the lid including at least one manipulator port with a hermetic interface,
- a manipulator module mounted on the manipulator port, wherein the manipulator module comprises a sleeve arranged to provide axial displacement and multi-axis articulation of the handling tool,
- an EM holder receiver sleeve configured to receive an EM specimen holder such that a tip of the EM specimen holder is accessible within the interior working volume;
- and
- at least one valve coupled to the chamber housing and configured to selectively evacuate the interior working volume and/or introduce a selected gas thereto.
A manipulator module for handling specimens in a controlled environment across a hermetically sealed interface, comprising:
- at least one handling tool configured to transmit user-applied motions,
- a sleeve arranged around at least one handling tool while maintaining a hermetic barrier between an exterior environment and an interior working volume,
- a ball-joint articulation assembly coupled to the sleeve and configured to provide axial displacement and multi-axis articulation of the sleeve and the at least one handling tool,
- a spring-bias system configured to preload the handling tool toward a neutral position, and
- a hermetic interface adapted to mount the module to a lid of a workstation such that the handling tool accesses the interior working volume while a user actuates the handling tool from outside the chamber.
A method of handling an EM specimen in a controlled environment using a portable workstation, the method comprising:
- inserting an EM specimen holder into a chamber housing until the tip of the EM specimen holder extends into an interior working volume,
- placing a grid box containing at least one EM grid onto a grid box dock within the interior working volume,
- sealing the chamber housing and operating at least one valve to establish a target environment within the chamber,
- actuating, from outside the chamber housing, a manipulator module mounted to a manipulator port to operate a handling tool within the interior working volume,
- opening the grid box within the interior working volume using the handling tool while the grid box base is held against rotation by an anti-rotation mechanism,
- manipulating a selected EM grid with the manipulation module and loading the selected EM grid onto the EM specimen holder tip,
- retracting the EM specimen holder tip into a holder barrel to seal the holder's internal volume and maintain a target environment within, when so configured, and
- venting the chamber housing and removing the EM specimen holder for transfer to an electron microscope.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.