Page History

...

1. Push the ‘power switch’ on the left-hand side of the microscope (Figure 1.2).  IMAGE GOES HERE   
2. Launch the Nanoeye software icon (Figure 2) on the desktop to launch the program IMAGE GOES HERE 
3. Prepare your sample for SEM analysis. Depending on the size and material, this may require gold/palladium sputter coating or carbon-coating (used for EDS). For sputter/carbon coater instructions, see the Sputter Coating Quick Start Guide.
   
   1. Common sample types include: stubs, with or without sputter coating; thin-sections with carbon coating; grain-mounts with carbon coating.
   2. Somewhere need to explain that coating is to prevent charging, which is especially common with thin-sections. Show a picture
4. Using the jig (Figure 3), measure the size of the specimen including mount. Use the gradations of the horizontal grid on the jig to measure the diameter of the specimen and the vertical grid for the specimen height. If you are using older 3.2mm style stubs with a narrow attachment post, there is an adapter available to fit into the stage. Make sure to measure dimensions with the adapter attached. IMAGE GOES HERE  
5. Important: use compressed air to blow off any loose material on the sample that otherwise could be mobilized within the vacuum and damage the detectors.

...

1. When not in use, the SEM is typically left under vacuum. Thus, to load a sample, the SEM needs to be pumped with air. Press the Exchange button on the front of the SEM. The button LED light indicates the inner vacuum status of the chamber, and the signals are: 
   1. Light Off: Vacuum is not applied
   2. Light On: Vacuum is applied
   3. Slow blinking: Vacuum is being released
   4. Fast blinking:  Vacuum is being applied
2. Follow the LED strip on the front of the SEM which is a progress bar, with a fully illuminating LED strip indicating that the SEM is at vacuum. Listen for a double? beep, which indicates that the vacuum has fully been released.
3. Fully open the stage door and click the ‘Calibration’ button to initiate the stage motor calibration (Figure 4). This should take around 3 minutes, and all motor controls will go back to the home position when done and no numbers should be yellow.? Occasionally the motor will get stuck at its limit switch and the value will stay yellow, in which case you can run the Calibration routine again.
4. In the Nanoeye software, click the “Sample Information” text box (Figure 4, red rectangle), enter the height and width values, then press Enter. Important: The command will not be registered if the user fails to hit Enter. After the height is entered, the Z-axis will automatically lower the stage to accommodate for the entered height to a distance of Z = [Entered height]. IMAGE GOES HERE  

Figure 4. Nanoeye window showing the sample preparation commands. Enter the height and width into the Sample Information (red box).

...

1. 1. 1. 1. Slide the door halfway closed to the point where the door catches and clicks.
         2. In Nanoeye, click the “Camera” button and the screen display will show the specimen (Figure 6). 
         3. With the camera activated, right click the “Camera” button to activate the brightness/contrast menu (Figure 6).
            Click the camera button again to take an image. IMAGE GOES HERE  

Figure 6. Display windows of the navigational camera operations.

...