SPI Supplies® Mica Sheets, Strips and Discs
"EM quality" or "AFM quality"
Is there such a thing as "AFM Grade" or "EM grade" mica?
The classification and grading scheme recognized by researchers worldwide is
the one developed by ASTM as indicated above, using test method ASTM
Standard D351. And as This results in the mica grading scale.
And just as researchers using TEM found that someone's "EM grade" mica was
arbitrary and subjective, so it is that one has to be cautious when someone
says they have "AFM grade" mica without stating the quality on the basis of
the ASTM grading method. So far as we are concerned, all of our mica is
suitable for AFM use. It is just that some applications require a higher
quality mica than others and rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach,
we permit the customer to decide upon the grade needed for their work. It
is also important when publishing results to be able to unambiguously state
the mica "grade" that was used. Otherwise future researchers will have
greater difficulty reproducing the results of others.
Hence, if you are studying self-assembling arrays, and want the largest
atomically smooth areas free of steps, and other disruptions, better to
consider V-1. But other applications might work just as well with a less
quality of mica, such as V-2 or V-4 or even V-5. For magnetic studies we
recommend nothing further down the quality scale than V-4 since V-5 could
have small amounts of trace iron.
Again for TEM applications, if you don't mind some "steps" in your images,
then V-5 would work just as well as V-1 (and you will save money as well).
But if you want to have a minimum of steps in your images, we would
recommend only Grade V-1.
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Tuesday September 30, 2008
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