The microscope is interfaced with a particle accelerator and a low energy ion source. Two separate ion species can be mixed and delivered to the TEM stage for in-situ irradiation experiments.
Features of the microscope
- Accelerating Voltage 300 kV
- Filament: Zirconated Tungsten thermal emission tip
- CTEM : 0.1 nm lattice resolution
- STEM : 0.34 nm point-to-point resolution
- XEDS System: EDXA SDD X-ray detector (active area 30 mm2) for elements with Z>5
- Diffraction: NBED and CBED – CCD camera works with diffraction recording
- Gatan camera 2kx2k for 300 kV
- FEI TIA and Gatan Digital Micrograph
- High Angle Annual Dark-field detector
- FEI Low-background large-angle double-tilt holder (+/- 70 deg.)
- DENS MEMS heating holder (RT-10000C, +/- 30 deg.)
- Remote operation capability
- In-situ ion irradiation
Beamlines connected to the microscope
The particle accelerator interfaced with the TEM is the 400 keV ion implanter , built by National Electrostatics Corporation (NEC) and equipped with a Danfyzik Model 921 ion source. This is a single ended accelerator, that can provide ions through beamline 6 (BL6) in the 20 keV – 400 keV, single charge state, and .8, 1.2 and 1.6 MeV (2+, 3+ and 4+ respectively) for multiple ionized states of certain ions. The accelerator can deliver specific ion species, such as Kr, Xe and others as required by the users. The ion source installed on a separate beamline (BL8), is an Alphatross ion source also manufactured by NEC and capable of delivering H and He ions in the energy range of 5-30 keV.
The beamline delivery system consists of sophisticated beam tuning devices capable of sending ion beams to the TEM with wide range of fluences and sizes as required by the users. A state of the art remote control system allows these beams to be delivered form the Control Room located away from the instruments.
23 keV He + 1.2 MeV Kr irradiation into pure Fe at 450°C
Video courtesy of K. Sun (UM)