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The PELCO® Silicon Aperture Frames are 3mm disc-type frames with a thickness of 200µm and square or rectangular apertures. They are useful for a variety of applications:
Detailed Measurements of Apertures
SDS (367KB PDF)
Silicon Nitride Blank
Liquid cells have been in use for special microscopy and X-ray analysis techniques and can be used for SEM imaging of liquids, pastes, greases and cells grown on silicon nitride membranes. The material can be applied in the "well" of a Silicon Nitride Membrane Disk or cells can be grown in the well (inside of Silicon Nitride window). To visualize the specimen in the SEM through the membrane the back has to be completely vacuum compatible sealed using the 3mm disk. A second Silicon Nitride membrane can also be used, but the 3mm disk is a more cost effective, sturdier and will keep the liquid better positioned in the "well". Sealing can be done with either a fast curing epoxy glue #14422 or M-Bond® 610 #16039. Make sure the complete Liquid Cell is sealed. To achieve optimum conductivity it is advisable to apply carbon paint on the sides to make a conductive bridge from the Silicon Nitride Membrane disk to the blank. The thin membrane of only 50nm has a low absorbance when using backscatter imaging or EDS in the SEM. The achievable results are similar or better compared to using a polymer type of membrane.
The edges of these silicon frames are specially truncated with two parallel flats, which act as an aid for specimen alignment in Correlative Light & Electron Microscopy (CLEM) experiments. These CLEM grids without a silicon nitride membrane are available in a variety of different size apertures and patterns. The CLEM grids are 200µm thick and 3 mm in diameter with two 1 mm-long parallel flat edges on both sides. The grids have a 50nm silicon nitride layer on the back side with bare silicon on the front side. Use of the parallel flats on both sides of the CLEM grid allows the orientation and alignment of the sample to be maintained when using different imaging techniques.