Design of Cryogenic Sample Holder with Electrical Contacts for UHV SEM/SPM

0509126 - ÚPT 2020 RIV FR eng C - Conference Paper (international conference)
Krutil, Vojtěch - Dupák, Libor - Fořt, Tomáš - Matějka, Milan - Srnka, Aleš - Vlček, Ivan - Urban, Pavel
Design of Cryogenic Sample Holder with Electrical Contacts for UHV SEM/SPM.
15th Cryogenics 2019 IIR International Conference. Proceedings. Paris: IIR, 2019, s. 369-377. Refrigeration Science and Technology. ISBN 978-2-36215-025-8. ISSN 0151-1637.
[IIR International Conference on Cryogenics /15./. Prague (CZ), 08.04.2019-11.04.2019]
R&D Projects: GA TA ČR TE01020233
Institutional support: RVO:68081731
Keywords : cryogenic sample holder * UHV SEM/SPM microscope * spring-loaded electrical contacts * transport pallet
OECD category: Mechanical engineering

We present design of a cryogenic sample holder for an ultra-high vacuum scanning electron microscope combined with scanning probe microscope (UHV SEM/SPM). The microscope is suitable for fabrication and characterization of nanostructures in the low temperature range of 20 K - 300 K. This newly designed sample holder is equipped with ten spring-loaded electrical contacts for electrical connection of a removable transport pallet to the sample holder. The transport pallet with a sample is equipped with a low temperature sensor, a heating element and ten solid pins. Two quadruples of contacts are reserved for the sample and the temperature sensor allowing thus a precise four-wire measurement of electrical properties of the sample and its temperature. The remaining pair is reserved for two-wire connection of the heating element. In the low-temperature tests, the limit temperature of 22 K was reached in a test vacuum chamber with a cryogenic helium flow cooling system. The ambient temperature was 300 K. The contact function was successfully verified by measuring the transient electrical resistance within the whole range of the working temperatures. Additionally, a thorough research study of commercially available sample holders indicates that the holders for the intended use are not available on the market.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0299911