Plasma Cleaner

It has been well documented that low energy plasmas can be used to reactively etch or remove organic materials found on the surface of inorganic materials. This technology has been used by the industrial community to clean semiconductor wafers and optical materials for many years. A related technique is now being implemented in the field of electron microscopy, where specimens can become contaminated during the preparation process or from other sources. Current analytical instruments use tightly focused, intense beams that create carbon deposits on the specimen surface due to organic contamination. The PC2000 is designed to simultaneously clean the specimen and specimen stage, which minimizes, and in many cases, eliminates contamination of the specimen being analyzed. The specimen holder and specimen are subjected to reactive gas plasma prior to electron microscope analysis.