4160 SEM

[Ed Myers]

All,

I had another question today regarding the 
cleanliness category of the 4160 SEM.  It seems 
to me, people may be putting in gold coated 
samples and there is a fair likelihood of gold 
contaminated samples are being imaged.  Should we 
categorized the 4160 as a "litho" tool?

The following was taken from SNL's sample restriction for their Sirion SEM.

Restrictions on samples:

The sample material must be able to withstand a 
high vacuum environment without outgassing. It 
must be clean. It may be attached to the sample 
holder using any suitable SEM vacuum-quality 
adhesive. The sample must be electrically 
grounded to the sample holder to minimize sample 
charging. If the sample is nonconductive 
(plastic, fiber, polymer, or other substance with 
an electrical resistance greater than 1E10 ohms), 
the sample may be coated with a 200 – 300 Å layer 
of carbon or other conductor. Rough surfaced 
samples must be evenly coated from every 
direction. Biological, cloth and powder samples 
may require carbon or other conductive painting 
on portions of the sample that are hard to coat. 
The workstation can accommodate up to 150 mm (6") wafers.

Ed