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SPI Supplies was the first in the world to truly commercialize and promote silicon nitride membrane window grids for TEM grid applications.
SPI Supplies has years of experience working with researchers to develop these membrane window grids. We have also invested a significant amount of resources in the characterization of the membrane windows, which provides important information for many research applications. We know which membrane thickness will be the best for different applications. We know about temperature stability. We can supply electrical resistivity information and we can supply optical transparency information. Our low stress membranes are so robust, that when used as x-ray windows, we will guarantee them against vacuum failure. Our membranes can also withstand cleaning for re-use but we don't recommend reusing the membranes because of the possibility of nanoparticle cross-contamination, one sample to another.
The best reason to choose SPI is because we have the worlds largest selection of membrane window sizes and thicknesses, all available in convenient packs of ten grids. This allows a researcher to experiment with grids of different membrane thickness and not restrict their work to a particular membrane thickness.
The SPI Supplies Silicon Nitride Membrane Window Grids are available with windows as continuous film low stress silicon nitride and perforated. The windows are available in both square format as well as a slot format, and in thickness from 1000 nm to 20 nm.
Today, literally hundreds of researchers worldwide are using the SPI Supplies Brand of membrane window grids. And as the results from these workers get published, we will attempt to keep a listing of such publications.
Thickness of the membrane is important for many and we have developed our own test methods for making the membrane thickness measurement.
Those working in nanotechnology and using the SPI Supplies silicon nitride membrane window grids are always concerned about "smoothness", subject of "surface texture" defined in ANSI/ASME B46.1. For silicon nitride windows, the "waviness" or "flatness" is directly related to the flatness of the starting silicon wafer since the membrane itself is low stress nitride. Surface roughness (or smoothness) is a concern to those studying self-assembling arrays. Our own studies that the surface smoothness of the SPI Supplies brand of membrane window grids is superior to the competitions. The RMS (Rg) is ~ 0.70 nm and the Mean Roughness (Ra) is ~ 0.47 nm. A more extensive description of the laboratory's finding will answer most other questions.
Note of caution: We present these numbers in good faith but they are not presented as product specifications. We believe they are representative of our product but specific lots may be slightly better or slightly worse. We also offer comparison information about surface roughness of other supposedly "smooth" surfaces.
All of the SPI Supplies of membrane window grids, can be handled and treated like conventional TEM grids. Using high precision tweezers they can be stored in the same kinds of grid boxes, either SPI Supplies Brand or BEEM ® Brand as conventional grids. For those working with nanoparticles which because of their higher surface area are more "reactive", we suggest storage in an inert atmosphere and suggest using the SPI-Dry™ Sample Preserver Capsules.
Because of the way in which silicon nitride membrane windows are manufactured, there is a silicon nitride layer on the “bottom” of these grids in addition to the membrane on the “top”.
| Continuous Silicon Nitride Membranes: | |
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Square Windows |
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Slot Windows |
| Perforated Silicon Nitride Membranes: | |
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Square Windows |
| Other Silicon Nitride Membrane Window Products: | |
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X-ray Windows |
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Multi-Frame Arrays for Spin Coating Applications |
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Wet Cells for SEM BSE Imaging and TEM |
| Silicon Oxide TEM Membrane Window Grids: | |
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Square Windows |
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Perforated Windows |
| Silicon Frames Only: | |
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Silicon Frames Only (No Membrane) |
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