The world’s first open source scanning transmission electron microscope.
NanoMi Open source TEM - Transcript
[On screen: NanoMi Open source TEM]
We would like to introduce NanoMi, the world's first open source scanning transmission electron microscope built at the Nanotechnology Research Centre. Target specifications are 50 kilovolt accelerating voltage and 10 nanometre resolution. The microscope can be built affordably by users with the publicly available documentation.
We have designed it so that the components of the microscope can be removed as a single unit and brought to the bench for ease of adjustment and modification without affecting their alignment.
The alignment halfpipe acts as a mechanical breadboard so that components can be added or removed or moved around to different locations. They are wired to multi-pin connectors to allow for easy electrical connection to the system.
We have designed our own piezoelectric movers to align apertures and samples in the electron beam path. This simplifies the system so that it doesn't require mechanical feedthroughs.
Currently, we are using a commercial JEOL tungsten thermionic emission source, but any source can be fitted to the system.
Our piezo movers are designed to move samples and apertures up to 10 millimetres in 20 nanometre steps. We are using an 8-pole electrostatic stigmator for beam shaping with a ground plate aperture to prevent charging. Our double plate 4-pole deflector can achieve parallel beam deflection and it also incorporates a grounding plate aperture to prevent charging. Focussing is accomplished with an Einzel electrostatic lens which simplifies lens design and also allow the use of ions instead of electrons in the column.
We have designed all of our own electronics to control the system.
These electronics are built from the board level to control all aspects of the microscope.
We have also designed our own software to control the machine and do the image processing.
This ultra-high vacuum microscope can be added to any system and provides a hardware sandbox to perform unique experiments. It can also provide education in electron microscopy which is usually limited by high cost. Controlling every aspect of the microscope will give us some unique imaging capabilities, and we aim to enable unique science capabilities and make microscopy more accessible for Canada and the world.
[On screen: To learn more about NanoMi please visit nrc.canda.ca/nanomi]
[On screen: official signature, National Research Council Canada / Conseil national de recherches Canada]
[On screen: Government of Canada wordmark]