High Vacuum Carbon and Metal Coater for Electron Microscopy Samples

高真空碳和金属镀膜机是制备用于透射电子显微镜和扫描电子显微镜应用的样品的必要设备。UBC生物成像设备(BIF)的联合申请者使用透射电子显微镜和扫描电子显微镜在纳米尺度上解析植物细胞、食品和生物制品的结构。购买一台新的高真空镀膜机需要资金，该镀膜机具有三项功能：1)沉积对扫描电子显微镜和电子衍射X射线(EDX)分析至关重要的超薄碳膜，以及在透射电子显微镜网格上稳定支撑样品的薄膜；2)在样品表面覆盖用于高分辨率扫描电子显微镜(SEM)的金属；3)使透射电子显微镜样品网格具有亲水性，以便在网格上均匀地铺展水基样品，如纤维素纳米晶和纳米纤维。该设备将支持BIF的一个扫描电子显微镜和三个电子显微镜。我们有能力生产高质量的碳和金属涂层薄膜，以满足我们在温哥华不列颠哥伦比亚省为非导电纳米样品制备高分辨率扫描电子显微镜、能谱和透射电子显微镜分析样品的迫切研究需求。Samuels实验室(Bota)将使用高真空碳和金属涂布机为扫描电子显微镜准备植物样本，用于开发杨木和大麻植物的毛状体。此外，对于产生大量THC的大麻毛状体的高分辨率研究，Samuels实验室要求涂布机在电子断层扫描过程中加强透射电子显微镜网格以支撑样品。Singh实验室(土地和食品系统学院)使用扫描电子显微镜检查各种生物活性化合物，如重组蛋白质、食品添加剂和喷雾干燥微粒。为了研究金属纳米粒子在微球结构中的分布规律，需要在高真空镀膜机上均匀地在样品上涂覆超薄的碳和金属，以进行超高分辨率的扫描电子显微镜和能谱分析。福斯特实验室(CHBE)致力于开发聚合物和纳米复合材料的生物异常材料。碳和金属涂层是他们常规的样品制备流程，用扫描电子显微镜和透射电子显微镜对这些新材料进行表征。购买这种设备将不仅使共同申请者的实验室受益，也将使许多未来在UBC生物成像设施进行高分辨率扫描电子显微镜和透射电子显微镜分析的研究人员受益。由于BIF是一个全校共享的研究设施，因此该设备得到了广泛的使用，例如BIF以前在该设施的低真空镀膜机去年被来自10个不同UBC研究小组的12个总部使用。不幸的是，旧的涂覆设备现在出现了故障，无法修复。该设施的两名专职工作人员将为HQP提供培训和支持，以便在其样品上进行超薄涂层。*推迟购买高真空镀膜机可能会对依赖该设备的估计10-20个总部基地的论文和研究进度产生负面影响。

A high vacuum carbon and metal coater is essential equipment to prepare samples for both transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) applications. TEM and SEM are used by the co-applicants in the UBC Bioimaging Facility (BIF) to resolve plant cell, food products, and bioproducts structures at the nanometer scale. Funding is requested to purchase a new high vacuum coater that has three capabilities: 1) to deposit ultra-thin carbon films at uniform thickness crucial for SEM and electron diffraction X-ray (EDX) analysis, as well as stabilizing sample-supporting films on TEM grids; 2) to coat samples with metal for high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM); and 3) to make TEM sample grids hydrophilic to spread aqueous samples, such as cellulose nanocrystals and nanofibrils, uniformly over the grid. The equipment will be support BIF's one SEM and three TEMs. The ability produce high-quality carbon and metal coated thin films that would meet our urgent research needs to prepare samples for high-resolution SEM, EDX and TEM analysis on non-conductive nanoscale samples at UBC Vancouver. The Samuels lab (BOTA) will use the high vacuum carbon and metal coater to prepare plant samples for SEM, both in developing poplar wood and in the trichomes of cannabis plants. In addition, for high-resolution studies of cannabis trichomes that produce large quantities of THC, the Samuels lab requires the coater in order to reinforce TEM grids to support samples during electron tomography. The Singh lab (Faculty of Land and Food Systems) uses SEM to examine a variety of bioactive compounds such as recombinant proteins, food additives and spray dried microparticles. In order to investigate the distribution pattern of metallic nanoparticles in the microsphere structure, the high vacuum coater is required to coat samples with ultra-thin carbon and metal at uniform thickness for the ultrahigh-resolution analysis of SEM and EDX. The Foster lab (CHBE) works on development of bionanomaterials that are polymers and nanocomposites. The carbon and metal coating are their routine sample preparation workflow to characterize these new materials using SEM and TEM. Purchase of this equipment will benefit not only the co-applicants' labs, but the many future researchers who conduct high-resolution SEM and TEM analysis at the UBC Bioimaging facility. As BIF is a campus-wide shared research facility, this equipment is widely used, e.g. BIF's previous low vacuum coater at the facility was used by 12 HQP from 10 different UBC research groups last year. Unfortunately, the old coating equipment is now out of order and not repairable.Two dedicated staff at the facility will provide training and support to HQPs for ultrathin coating on their samples.  A delay in purchasing the high vacuum coater could negatively impact the thesis and research progress of the estimated 10-20 HQPs relying on this equipment.