Sputter coater and vibratory polisher for high resolution electron microscopy

分析电子显微镜已经成为地球科学和生物科学以及工程和林业许多方面研究的基本工具。扫描电子显微镜和电子探针分析都需要仔细的样品制备，以确保电子成功地传导到被分析的体积。这是通过在样品上涂上导电介质来实现的，导电介质通常是碳或金属（例如金）。涂层是由靶体的辉光放电形成的，在样品表面形成一层纳米尺度的贴面。我们目前的溅射涂层机已经使用了25年以上，变得越来越不可靠。此外，它不提供涂层厚度控制，也不能覆盖超细晶粒尺寸，以确保高分辨率图像和可重复性分析。这两种功能都可以在这里要求的新一代涡轮溅射镀膜机中使用。此外，为了使抛光后的样品在涂覆前特别光滑，需要使用振动抛光机。这将消除在常规磨料抛光过程中造成的划痕和其他预备缺陷。这两个辅助设备将共同确保大学显微镜和微量分析设施的持续涂层操作，并引入用于材料评估的高质量抛光成品的生产。这个设备将专门服务于我的研究小组（目前有10名科学家）的兴趣，我们的研究来自地球、月球、火星、小行星和彗星的行星物质。我们的研究需要对稀有和珍贵材料进行高精度的评估。分析电子显微镜是我们研究计划的一个关键方面，样品制备是实现最佳视觉和分析结果的核心。溅射涂层机和抛光机都将确保样品处于最佳状态，为电子光学分析做好准备。所要求的基础设施还将支持其他科学学科，工程和林业的众多客户，他们使用新不伦瑞克大学的电子显微镜设备来研究合成化合物，有机材料，金属，混凝土和各种木制品。

Analytical electron microscopy has become a fundamental tool of research for many aspects of the Earth and Biological sciences, as well as for Engineering and Forestry. Both scanning electron microscopy and electron microprobe analysis require careful sample preparation in order to ensure the successful conduction of electrons to and from the analyzed volume. This is achieved by coating the samples with a conductive medium, which is typically carbon or a metal (e.g., gold). Coating is brought about by glow discharge from the target, which results in a nanometre-scale veneer covering the sample surface. Our current sputter coater is more than 25 years old and is becoming unreliable. Moreover, it does not provide for coating thickness control, nor can it coat with an ultra-fine grain size in order to ensure high resolution imagery and reproducible analyses. Both these features are available in the new generation turbo sputter coater requested here. In addition, a vibratory polisher is sought in order to render polished samples especially smooth prior to coating. This will eliminate scratches and other preparatory flaws caused during conventional abrasive polishing. Together, these two ancillary pieces of equipment will ensure continued coating operations for the university's Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility, and introduce the production of enhanced quality polished finishes for materials evaluation. This equipment will specifically serve the interests of my research group (currently 10 scientists) in our investigation of planetary materials from the Earth, Moon, Mars, asteroids and comets. Our research requires high precision evaluation of rare and precious materials. Analytical electron microscopy is a critical aspect of our research program and sample preparation is central to realizing optimum visual and analytical results. Both the sputter coater and polisher will ensure that the samples are in prime condition ready for electron-optical analysis. The requested infrastructure will also support numerous clients in other science disciplines, Engineering and Forestry, who use electron microscope facilities at the University of New Brunswick to study synthesized compounds, organic materials, metals, concrete and various wood products.