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Cleans specimens and holders immediately before insertion into an electron microscope; removes existing carbonaceous debris from the specimen and prevents contamination during imaging and analysis. Accepts two electron microscopy specimen holders and has multiple gas inlets with mixing capabilities.

Clean, well prepared specimens are an imperative for imaging and microanalysis in electron microscopy. TEM requires that specimens be prepared without altering their microstructure or composition.

Contamination typically comes from several sources: inadvertent touching of specimens or specimen holders, electron microscope column contamination, and adhesives or solvents used in the preparation process.

The NanoClean removes contamination from a wide variety of materials prepared by a variety of techniques. The specimen holder is inserted through a port into the plasma chamber. Ports for a wide variety of microscope manufacturers are available and are easily changed in as little as 10 seconds.

The NanoClean cleans specimens and holders immediately before they are inserted into an electron microscope. A low-energy, inductively coupled, high frequency, downstream plasma effectively cleans the specimen surface without changing its elemental composition or structural characteristics. Highly contaminated specimens can be cleaned in two minutes or less.

The NanoClean readily accepts one or two side-entry specimen holders for most commercial TEMs and STEMs, and can accept bulk specimens for cleaning before conducting SEM or surface science analysis. The Plasma Cleaner includes the customer's choice of specimen holder port, pumping port assembly, and blank plug assembly.

Ports are available for electron microscopes manufactured by:

• Thermo Fisher Scientific/FEI Company/Philips Electron Optics
• Hitachi High Technologies America Inc.
• JEOL Ltd.
• Carl Zeiss Microscopy