Tempfix™ Mounting Adhesive
Some cautions when using with atomic force microscopy (AFM)
We are often times asked whether small particles or crystals would "sink into"
the Tempfix reducing its value as a substrate material for this kind of
application. The answer is not straight-forward.
If you think it might work, fortunately, it is fairly low cost and it might
be worth the experiment to find out if it would work in your particular
situation.
But we would want to make sure that the prospective user was aware of the
following:
- Tempfix is hydrophobic, therefore one could not easily apply any kind of
aqueous based dispersion of fine particle, nano-sized or larger. One might
be able to disperse fine particles (in aqueous suspension) in droplet form
via an aerosol type dispenser.
- If the particles to be examined were in an organic liquid, one would
have to be careful that it not dissolve or swell the tempfix.
- If the fine particles, nano-size or larger, were dispersed in the
dry state, it is hard to predict whether a particle actually on the Tempfix
would indeed sink in to deep. If you are up against a wall with ideas, then
this is something certainly worth trying. According to
Dr. Donald Chernoff, of Advanced Surface Microscopy, Inc., even if the
nano particles do sink in a little bit, when applied as a powder, there
generally seem to be enough agglomeration that there always will be enough
sticking up out of the Tempfix that good data more often than not, can be
obtained. So there can be no guarantees of course, but this is our best
information for someone contemplating the use of Tempfix to hold nano size particles for AFM.
- We are sometimes asked about the smoothness of the Tempfix surface.
Actually it is quite smooth, and if we had to be a bit quantitative in that
statement, we would say that it appears to be, peak to peak, about 25 nm.
We hope that this information will be helpful to you in making the right
decision as to what mounting material might work best for you. If you should
have other questions, just pose them to us, if we know the answer, we will
tell you or try very hard to find someone who would know the answer.
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