Chinese flag
Chinese 		Spanish flag
Spanish

Available geometries:

Diamond Slot Grid
Diamond Slot Grid
Diamond Ring Grid
Diamond Ring Grid
Surface morphology of diamond
Surface morphology of diamond
grids viewed by SEM

SPI Supplies offers these innovative grids which are made using the latest diamond thin film technology developed in the aerospace industry. The process used is called 'activated chemical vapor deposition (CVD)'. Diamond is grown on a silicon wafer followed by a complete removal of the Si to get a free standing diamond film and eventually the grids. These grids are made of solid diamond and there is nothing else involved.

An important characteristics of diamond is it has a thermal conductivity approximately four times higher than that of copper. Translated, this means that diamond can carry away heat four times more efficiently than copper!

Diamond is very rigid compared with other materials of the same thickness. It is also the hardest material known and has a very low sputter rate. Diamond is chemically inert and samples mounted on the SPI Diamond Grids can be cleaned easily or etched prior to examination in the TEM.

For ion milling:

So just what does this mean for an EM user? For those samples being ion milled, where the milling rate must be slowed down to prevent overheating, the higher thermal conductivity of the diamond support rings makes it possible to increase the ion milling rates substantially.

In addition, diamond is highly resistive to being ion milled itself, thereby resulting in a cleaner ion milling environment and less deposition of material on the sample itself.

For high resolution TEM work:

For TEM experiments requiring very long exposure times, the thermal conductivity of a diamond grid means that there will be far less heating of certain specimens and therefore less thermal drift. A sample supported on a diamond grid has a rigid carrier with low thermal expansion as well as high thermal conductivity. A diamond grid has virtually zero contraction and any carbon support film will remain highly taught.

For those working in the semiconductor field, samples mounted on diamond have the ideal support while chemical etching is being performed.

Electrical conductivity:

As would be expected, the original diamond wafers used to make the grids, are not conductive (resistivity: 104 - 10 5 Ohm-cm). However, during the laser cutting, a small amount of graphite is formed and settles onto the surface of the diamond grid, making them conductive enough for use in a TEM: Exact measurements of the resistivity of the laser cut grids have not been made but they are conductive and do not charge up under the electron beam in a TEM.

Low Bremsstrahlung radiation:

Diamond, unlike other forms of carbon, such as graphite, exhibit extremely low levels of Bremsstrahlung radiation and therefore sensitivity on an EDS spectrum will be maximum when using these grids. The level of Bremsstrahlung radiation is comparable to what is observed when using beryllium grids.

For safety reasons diamond grids represent a possible alternative to beryllium grids.