Double tilt and rotate specimen holder for a transmission electron microscope
AssigneeGatan, Inc.
InventorsReza Alani, Barbara Louise Armbruster, Richard John Mitro, Leszek Malaszewski, Robert Michael Kozar, Ronald Zolkowski, Shigeru Suzuki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A side-entry specimen holder for transmission electron microscopy is provided. The specimen holder is capable of rotating a specimen and tilting it in two axes. The specimen, when mounted in the holder, can be tilted in the plus/minus direction of the X-axis, the plus/minus direction of the Y-axis, and simultaneously have the ability of 360° rotation in the axis of the electron beam to permit alignment of microstructural features of the specimen for optimal viewing and analysis.
Claims29
A side-entry specimen holder for a transmission electron microscope comprising,
- a specimen holder including a specimen cradle, a frame for said specimen cradle, and a drive shaft connected to said specimen cradle and said frame;
- a first tilt mechanism for tilting said specimen holder about a first axis;
- a second tilt mechanism for tilting said specimen cradle about a second axis;
- and
- a motion exchange mechanism for rotating said specimen cradle about the vertical axis of said cradle.
A method for analyzing one or more physical features of a specimen in a transmission electron microscope comprising mounting a specimen to be analyzed in a holder, inserting said holder and specimen into the path of an electron beam from the transmission electron microscope, rotating said holder about its vertical axis to align a physical feature of interest of the specimen relative to a first tilt axis, and tilting said holder in both of first and second tilt axes to analyze said physical feature.
A method for analyzing one or more physical features of a specimen in a transmission electron microscope comprising mounting a specimen to be analyzed in a holder, inserting said holder and specimen into the path of an electron beam from the transmission electron microscope, rotating said holder about its vertical axis to align a physical feature of interest of said specimen with a TEM detector, and tilting said holder in both of first and second tilt axes to analyze said physical feature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.