Contract for the Supply and Installation of an Aberration-Corrected Transmission Electron Microscope (AC-HRTEM) to the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory

INL, International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory

This single lot tender is for an Aberration-Corrected Transmission Electron Microscope (AC-HRTEM). It will be devoted to atomic resolution imaging both in conventional high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) and in scanning high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), and present a suitable setup to perform in-situ experiments and collect multiple signals, i.e. imaging and spectroscopy, with high spatial resolution and high frame rate.
It is expected to be a very stable instrument with internal parameters accurately determined, therefore allowing complex imaging experiments, such as atomic resolution HRTEM focal series acquisition, and the posterior data treatment and simulation. This system is expected to be remotely-controlled in real time and equipped hardware and software that can support huge datasets to be stored and transferred for post-processing.
Technical Specifications:
Electron beam generation
— High-brightness and stable field-emission gun (FEG). Effective beam current must present fluctuations lower than 0,75 nA/day (long term) or lower than 0,07 nA 6short term/ noise).
— Accurate control for the current density, allowing both analytical microscopy with high current and low-dose imaging of beam sensitive materials.
— Wien-type monochromator system, allowing combination of high currents and ultra-high energy resolution illumination of the sample.
Acceleration, condensing systems
— 300kV, 200kV, 80kV and 60kV operation modes fully aligned at delivery.
— 3-condenser lenses (excluding mini-condenser lens) system that allows full-control for the electron beam size and convergence.
— Highly stable aberration-corrector hardware for the condensing system. An accurate measurement of the aberrations from the condenser lens (upper objective lens) system by the use of Zemlin Tableau method should be supported.
— Highly stable scanning system that allows flawless atomic resolution HRSTEM imaging
Goniometer and sample holder
— Stable goniometer system with movement ranges of at least:
— +/- 1.0 mm on X-Y plane
— +/-0.3 mm on Z direction
— Maximum attainable alpha tilt angle: +/-35º
— Ultra-stable piezoelectric stage for fine sample positioning. Stability better than 0,5 nm/min.
— Low-background single tilt holder and double tilt sample holder with attainable beta tilt of at least 30º.
— MEMS type sample holder for in situ heating (up to 1000 ºC) and electrical biasing experiments
Objective lens
— Highly stable aberration-corrector hardware for the objective system (lower objective lens). An accurate measurement of the aberrations from the objective lens system by the use of Zemlin Tableau method should be supported.
— Pole piece gap of at least 5 mm allowing in situ and tomography experiments.
— Lorentz lens.
Detection and spectroscopy
— Fluorescent screen with a real-time (at least 24 fps) monitoring system for remote operation
— STEM detectors:
— High Angle Annular Dark Field (HAADF).
— Bright Field (BF) STEM detector
— Annular Bright Field (ABF).
— Segmented Annular detector for STEM imaging, allowing Annular Dark Field (ADF) and Differential Phase contrast (DPC) imaging modes with a controllable annular range.
— Fast read-out low-noise 16 Megapixel (4k x 4k) CMOS camera, with a frame rate of at least 24 frames per second at 512x512 pixels
— Low-background X-ray Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (XEDS) windowless detector with detection solid angle of, at least, 0.7 srad.
— High-energy resolution Electrons Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) spectrometer with a fast shutter, coupled with a low-noise, CCD camera with a dynamic range and fast frame rate. An acquisition rate on the order of 1000 spectra/s and the possibility of simultaneous measurement of the Zero-loss peak (ZLP) and Core Loss (CL) EELS spectrum is required
Structure, Interface, Peripheral hardware, software
— Insulating microscope enclosure to reduce thermal instabilities and vibration induced by the ambient
— 64-bits software interface for the complete control of the microscope, including the electron gun, optical elements, vacuum system, stage, spectrometers. The software solution must provide real-time remote operation possibility
— User interface to control the microscope with the possibility to automatically recall all optimized operating conditions including lens settings, gun parameters, optical elements alignments for all the different techniques such as TEM imaging, STEM imaging and Spectroscopies setups for different acceleration voltages.
— Highly stable water cooling unit
— Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system covering the microscope vital parts.
— Fully interlocked oil free vacuum system, with suitable vacuum levels attained on the gun and on the column by individual Ion Getter Pumps (IGP)
— Cooling device with cold trap and liquid nitrogen dewar in the objective lens block to maintain the cleanliness of the vacuum.
— Suitable hardware to monitor and control the heating sample holder
— Suitable software and hardware that allows the local and remote real-time operation of the microscope, including two required connections and monitors.
— Suitable 64-bits software and/or packages to acquire and process microscopy data
— TEM images and focal series
— STEM images and DPC results
— XEDS and EELS spectroscopies
Other requisites
— The company offering the system should make a proposal for:
— Assessment of the aberration temporal stability for both correctors and optimization of the existing resolution specs (TEM and STEM)
— Low-dose optimization
Technical requisites:
a) Information limit (pm)
Mode 300kV 200kV 80kV 60kV
HRTEM 63 70 90 100
HAADF - HRSTEM 63 80 110 120
The detection systems mentioned above must be adequate to operate for the mentioned acceleration voltages. The HRTEM spatial resolution benchmark should be carried out using Young Fringes experiment. The HRSTEM spatial resolution benchmark should be carried by showing on Si (110) in the Fourier transformed image.
Final energy resolution (eV) monochromator on:
Mode 300kV 200kV 80kV 60kV
Energy Resolution 0.30 0.25 0.20 0.19
To be measured as FWHM of the zero-loss peak after the monochromator tuning.

O prazo para a recepção das propostas era 2014-11-03. O concurso foi publicado em 2014-09-10.

Os seguintes fornecedores são mencionados nas decisões de adjudicação ou noutros documentos de contratação:

• • FEI Europe BV Sucursal España

• • INL, International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory

• • Microscópios electrónicos › Microscópio electrónico de transmissão

• • Norte › Cávado