TY - JOUR
T1 - Double-tilt in situ TEM holder with multiple electrical contacts and its application in MEMS-based mechanical testing of nanomaterials
AU - Bernal, Rodrigo A.
AU - Ramachandramoorthy, Rajaprakash
AU - Espinosa, Horacio D.
N1 - Funding Information:
H.D.E acknowledges support of the Army Research Office through DURIP instrumentation Award no. W911NF-12-1-0366 and National Science Foundation through Award no. DMR-0907196 . We thank Dr. Juan P. Giraldo from iNfinitesimal LLC for mechanical assembly and Prof. Wilbur Bigelow at University of Michigan for very useful discussions on the holder design.
PY - 2015/9/1
Y1 - 2015/9/1
N2 - MEMS and other lab-on-a-chip systems are emerging as attractive alternatives to carry out experiments in situ the electron microscope. However, several electrical connections are usually required for operating these setups. Such connectivity is challenging inside the limited space of the TEM side-entry holder. Here, we design, implement and demonstrate a double-tilt TEM holder with capabilities for up to 9 electrical connections, operating in a high-resolution TEM. We describe the operating principle of the tilting and connection mechanisms and the physical implementation of the holder. To demonstrate the holder capabilities, we calibrate the tilting action, which has limits of ±15°, and establish the insulation resistance of the electronics to be 36. GΩ, appropriate for measurements of currents down to the nano-amp (nA) regime. Furthermore, we demonstrate tensile testing of silver nanowires using a previously developed MEMS device for mechanical testing, using the implemented holder as the platform for electronic operation and sensing. The implemented holder can potentially have broad application to other areas where MEMS or electrically-actuated setups are used to carry out in situ TEM experiments.
AB - MEMS and other lab-on-a-chip systems are emerging as attractive alternatives to carry out experiments in situ the electron microscope. However, several electrical connections are usually required for operating these setups. Such connectivity is challenging inside the limited space of the TEM side-entry holder. Here, we design, implement and demonstrate a double-tilt TEM holder with capabilities for up to 9 electrical connections, operating in a high-resolution TEM. We describe the operating principle of the tilting and connection mechanisms and the physical implementation of the holder. To demonstrate the holder capabilities, we calibrate the tilting action, which has limits of ±15°, and establish the insulation resistance of the electronics to be 36. GΩ, appropriate for measurements of currents down to the nano-amp (nA) regime. Furthermore, we demonstrate tensile testing of silver nanowires using a previously developed MEMS device for mechanical testing, using the implemented holder as the platform for electronic operation and sensing. The implemented holder can potentially have broad application to other areas where MEMS or electrically-actuated setups are used to carry out in situ TEM experiments.
KW - Capacitive sensing
KW - Electromechanical properties
KW - JEOL 2100
KW - Nanowires
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ultramic.2015.04.017
DO - 10.1016/j.ultramic.2015.04.017
M3 - Article
C2 - 25974881
AN - SCOPUS:84929074945
VL - 156
SP - 23
EP - 28
JO - Ultramicroscopy
JF - Ultramicroscopy
SN - 0304-3991
ER -