The KNI offers a lab in the Keck sub-basement for preparing TEM samples by traditional means, often to produce cross-section specimens from a bulk sample. This typically involves the following steps:
Glue together a stack of materials, e.g. with the surface of two samples facing each other (if the surface is what you want to observe in the TEM)
Cut the stack into thin slices of material, in the appropriate orientation (the thin dimension here will be the same thin dimension in the TEM)
Cut out a 3 mm circle from this thin slice using a Disk Cutter
Polish that thin disk down to a thickness of ~100 μm
Use a Dimpler to polish a hemispherical dimple into the middle of the disk, such that only a few microns of material remain at the thinnest portion
Use an Argon Mill to perform the final polish of the thinnest portion, until a hole has been bored through the middle and the edges of that hole are thin enough to be electron-transparent in the TEM
List of Equipment Available
The Dimpler (left) and 3 mm Disk Cutter (right)The polishing station with automated handling of the polishing jig and control of its sweeping motion
Low-Angle Argon Milling & Polishing Station: Fischione Model 1010 (shown in infobox image)
