SPI Supplies News

Introducing the Vacu Prep II, the SPI Supplies high vacuum evaporator. The Vacu Prep II is a fast, clean, high vacuum bench top evaporator with simple automated operation for evaporation of metals of materials. It utilizes solid state electronics to control the pump down, evaporation, and venting sequences. Safe, reliable and easy to maintain, the Vacu Prep II can be used for routine carbon coating or the evaporation of various metals and materials. The interactive touch pad screen allows easy control of all systems. No need to remember if you opened or closed a valve; the screen allows you to monitor and run the system manually, or runs automatically to achieve the desired vacuum.

With its turbo molecular pump, the Vacu Prep II can achieve excellent base vacuum levels in a short period of time. Typical pump down cycles (10-5) are achieved in under 10 minutes for a typical carbon coating on TEM grids. Use of the liquid nitrogen trap increases the rate of pump down to even higher vacuum.

Typical Applications:

• Electron Microscopy Sample Preparation
• High-Vacuum Carbon Coating for TEM and X-Ray Analysis
• Resistance Evaporation of Metallic Compounds
• Carbon Support Films
• Carbon Platinum Replicas
• Rotary Shadowing
• Aperture Cleaning
• Asbestos Analysis
• Failure Analysis

More information is available on our website.

Mica is a naturally occurring mineral that is mined from the earth. With not too much processing, and an established grading system, this mineral becomes an ideal substrate for samples needing a smooth surface, and is used often in AFM, LM, and SEM studies.

All mica is not the same and the only mica offered by SPI Supplies is of the highest quality of muscovite because of the applications of our typical customer. SPI Supplies’ mica, cut into strips, discs, and sheets, is widely used by researchers worldwide.

Mica is classified into various grades as described and defined by ASTM Standard D351. This method is based on the well-established optical properties of mica and provides the basis for which we offer these grades for EM and AFM use.

For carbon support film production and even thin film coatings research, grade V-5 is typically more than adequate. It is low in cost and persons who have used it have reported satisfactory results. It is also popular as a substrate for dispersing fine colloidal particles prior to microscopic preparation or Pt/C shadowing.

For AFM studies, and for those making either carbon films or doing thin film coating research and wanting a higher quality mica as defined as having fewer “steps” on a freshly cleaved surface, we would recommend grade V-4. This grade is also great for use with AFM where a polar substrate is desired or where polarity of the substrate just does not matter.

For AFM calibration studies or perhaps the ultimate substrate for carbon film production, we offer the grade V-1. It is of a relatively high in cost, comparison to the other grades, but is still relatively inexpensive as compared to other substrates and can be used as a substrate material for general applications.

Mica can also be used as a substrate for binding cells to be characterized by TEM. It is generally best to “silanize” the mica before doing the actual experiments. With this approach, the plastic can be peeled away from the mica with little to no mica residue left behind.

Keep in mind that we are talking about freshly cleaved surfaces, not the “as received” surfaces. Cleaving mica is an easy process, but does require some practice. Check out our video on producing freshly cleaved mica.

Remember that SPI Supplies is one of the largest suppliers of mica to the microscopy and thin film coatings research market. If you do not see your size, thickness, or grade listed on our website, let us know what you need. We can generally make whatever is required, and without gigantic minimum quantities.

Learn about cleaving mica.

SPI Supplies Mica Products

SPI Supplies/Structure Probe will be closed on Friday, December 24th for Christmas, and Friday, December 31st for New Years. All orders placed online on these days will be processed after the weekend. We will be open as normal (8am-5pm EST) during the other weekdays.

We’d like to wish everyone happy holidays and a happy new year.

SPI Supplies is a proud sponsor of Drexel University’s Centralized Research Facilities’ “Current Trends in Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis” to be held on April 14, 2010 at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. For more information, or to register for this free event, please visit http://crf.coe.drexel.edu/crf/workshops.

*********** NEW PRICE – $5500.00 ***********
We are pleased to announce a price reduction on our popular Plasma Prep II Etcher/Cleaner/Asher (SPI# 11005-AB, 110 volt version)
Take advantage of this offer here.
Units are in stock and available for immediate delivery.

Video Resources for SPI Plasma Prep™ III Plasma Etcher, Osmium Plasma Coater Model OPC-80T and Sputter Carbon Coater.

Smart Grids™ represent the next step in TEM grids for sample preparation. These grids are a new revolutionary tool for enhanced visualization at the nanoscale. By creating a functionalized surface, the grid surface itself now becomes part of the sample preparation process. This allows Smart Grids™ the ability to understand function and form at the nanoscale level with applications ranging from materials to life sciences to semiconductor processing.

The SPI Supplies Universal ampoule breaker is the first of it kind to address both the issue of safe opening and safe disposal of glass ampoules of all available commercial sizers. Fits all size ampoules ideal for use with osmium tetroxide and/or gluteraldehyde.

SPI Supplies is proud to announce our designation by Castrol Industrial North America as it’s EXCLUSIVE MINIMUM ORDER SUPPLIER for Direct Material Products (Brayco & Braycote products) effective September 1, 2008.

This designation continues to establish SPI Supplies as the leading independent supplier of Castrol Direct Market products in the USA and worldwide.

As part of this program, SPI Supplies has also added 21 new Brayco & Braycote products which we had not sold previously.

You can find our full line of Brayco & Braycote products on our website.

SPI Supplies looks forward to meeting all of your Brayco & Braycote vacuum grease needs.

Welcome to SPI Supplies new home page. From our product index, and listing of distributors, to our new product page, we hope you will find easy access to our website from here. Don’t forget to bookmark this new homepage.

Let us know what you think. Your opinion is important to us as we continue to improve this site for your ease of use. Contact us at with your comments.

The Team at SPI Supplies