Target Material Selection for Sputter Coating of SEM Samples

Abstract

Abstract

Plasma-Induced Heating Effects on Platinum Nanoparticle Size During Sputter Deposition Synthesis in Polymer and Ionic Liquid Substrates

“…Au tends to form large islands and grains, whereas Pt produces smaller grains. 32 This is in effect what we see also for Pt-sputtered into liquids. It could also be that the Au cluster size in the gas is larger than for Pt.…”

Surface structures consisting of chromatin fibers in isolated barley (Hordeum vulgare) chromosomes revealed by helium ion microscopy

“…To resolve this problem, the chromosomes were coated with 5 nm of tungsten to enhance the conductivity of the chromosome surface. Tungsten has a high secondary electron yield property and a grain size of <1 nm (Heu et al 2019). Tungsten coating produces a very thin coating layer and disrupts the surface of the sample less than with platinum (2-3 nm) or gold (10-12 nm) (Heu et al 2019), whose particle sizes are bigger than that of tungsten.…”

“…Tungsten has a high secondary electron yield property and a grain size of <1 nm (Heu et al 2019). Tungsten coating produces a very thin coating layer and disrupts the surface of the sample less than with platinum (2-3 nm) or gold (10-12 nm) (Heu et al 2019), whose particle sizes are bigger than that of tungsten. However, the coating with tungsten 5 nm can increase the emission of the secondary electron at the chromosome surface and also increase the thickness of the chromatin fiber in the native structure.…”

“…Without the tungsten coating, the chromosomes were charged up by the low helium ion-induced secondary electron generated on the surface of the chromosome, resulting in insufficient secondary electrons for detection by HIM. The tungsten coating gives a high secondary electron yield at the surface, while maintaining a particle size below 1 nm (Heu et al 2019). Thus, it preserves the chromosome surface while adding a thin layer to improve image contrast, and is less disruptive of the chromosome surface compared with other metal coatings.…”

Experimental Study on the Interlaminar Fracture Properties of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites with a Single Embedded Toughened Film

“…Specimens were then dried in an oven at 50 °C for 1 h. Mixed images of both secondary electrons and back-scattered electron signals were produced at a 5 kV accelerating voltage. Since a magnification of only 2000× was required, surface-charge build-up prevention techniques such as sputtering or carbon coating were not needed [ 46 ].…”