New Microscopy Invention
True innovations, especially high tech ones, cannot be done by one individual or just one company. True innovation requires a thorough partner-2-partner collaboration to be successful. Team Jansen Precision Technology has been partnering with Microscopy Solutions over the past few months. Due to teamwork, co-design and high tech production of very small metal parts a new solution for Cryogenic Ultra High Vacuum sample transfer for electron microscopes and other related systems is about to see daylight.
Ultra-High Vacuum
An electron microscope uses a vacuum to be able to present a clear image of the sample under investigation. All electron microscopes today operate under high vacuum and that is simply not enough. Water or oil evaporates in high vacuum and is likely to precipitate on the sample and disturb the visible artifacts.
Mr Alexander Rosenthal from Australian Microscopy Solutions integrated for the first time a combined UHV/Cryogenic transfer system from the company Ferrovac GmbH (Zürich, Switzerland) into the most advanced SEM-FIB electron microscope from FEI Company (Eindhoven, Netherlands). This transfer system enables the sample to be kept under UHV pressure and at cryogenic temperatures during transport, transfer from system to system and during examination in the microscope. To clarify; ultra-high vacuum starts at 10-8 millibar and the stage in this case reaches -150°C or lower using liquid nitrogen.
The idea itself isn’t new, but this team of innovative companies (Jansen Precision Technology, Ferrovac and Microscopy Solutions) was the first that managed to realize it. Alexander Rosenthal: ‘To be able to put the new invention on the market I really needed a partner who is able to produce the necessary special metal parts. The challenge was to design and manufacture welded parts with an extreme low leak level for transferring the samples.’
Another challenge JPT faced was to design and manufacture a stand for the examination room which is flexible enough to rotate the sample to the ‘camera’ and at the same time is made in such a way that the ultra-high vacuum and ultra-low temperatures wouldn’t deform it.
Finding the right partner
As Alexander Rosenthal tells us the search over the internet to find such a partner took quite a while. ‘What I really want is just one single partner for the spark erosion production of the special designed parts’, Alexander continues. ‘This partner also has to take responsibility for the complete solution, the complete part they have to co-design and produce. It took me a while before I found Mark Jansen form Jansen Precision Technology, the partner who is crazy enough to do the project and be enthusiastic about it at the same time.’
Mark Jansen, managing director and technology solution provider ad Jansen Precision Technology: ‘Alexander found us over the internet. After some first Skype calls I got very interested in the solution. I’m a technical engineer in the end. And we at Jansen Precision Technology are used to co-design complete parts. After the engineering we provided the wire cut, welding and assembling of both the ultra-high vacuum cylinders and the copper parts for the examination room of this very special electron microscope. It has been true amazing times and we are both proud and excited that the prototype is working and producing the desired images.’
Next steps
The journey isn’t over yet. In close collaboration with Ferrovac, the inventor of ultra—high vacuum suitcases to move samples under ultra-high-vacuum from one machine to another, both Microscopy Solutions and Jansen Precision Technology work together on the next level ultra-high vacuum electron microscopes. ‘Due to information restrictions we cannot tell you more about it at the moment’, Alexander continues, ‘but the next step will be as revolutionary as the invention we did recently.’ Mark Jansen: ‘Indeed, and we are thrilled to be able not only to participate, but to be a part of this new innovation in microscopy solutions which can be used in research institutions and universities for trailblazing research. That is – in the end – the ultimate goal we all work for.’
More information
Might you want more information on the subject and combined effort of Microscopy Solutions, Ferrovac and Jansen Precision Technology as innovators for electron microscopes, please visit their websites or reach out to Mark Jansen of Jansen Precision Technology.