Erwin Sabio Philips CM12 Alignment & Setup Manual Page 3 Table of Contents Parts of the CM12 The Microscope The Control Panels The Specimen Holder The Side Entry Specimen Chamber Start-up Procedure Powering up the Microscope Saturating the Filament Column Alignment...
Erwin Sabio Philips CM12 Alignment & Setup Manual Page 4 Parts of the CM12 The Microscope Figure 1 The Philips CM12 (S)TEM Microscope Electron Gun A filament tip (LaB in this case) that emits electrons upon application of electrical current.
Erwin Sabio Philips CM12 Alignment & Setup Manual Page 5 The Control Panels Left Control Panel Figure 2 The Control Panel located to the left of the microscope column. Right Control Panel Figure 3 The main control panel on the right hand side of the microscope.
Erwin Sabio Philips CM12 Alignment & Setup Manual Page 7 Powering Up the Microscope 1. Start by logging in to the computer connected to the TEM. Login is a necessary step to prevent unauthorized users from accessing the microscope. Without login, the control panel is not accessible.
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Erwin Sabio Philips CM12 Alignment & Setup Manual Page 8 3. Start saturating the filament by slowly turning the Filament Knob [18] clockwise. Each click raises the level by one with a wait time of 5 seconds between each step.
Erwin Sabio Philips CM12 Alignment & Setup Manual Page 9 Column Alignment Centering the Beam 1. To center the beam more easily, adjust the intensity knob [9] to find the cross over i.e. the brightest and more focused beam setting. (Note: if the intensity knob is a little hard to control, press the FINE button [10] to spread or concentrate the beam more slowly.)
Erwin Sabio Philips CM12 Alignment & Setup Manual Page 10 Condenser Aperture Adjustment 1. The condenser aperture controls the beam that passes through the condenser lens. If the aperture is not aligned, the beam will not spread concentrically on either side of the cross-over when the intensity knob is turned.
Sample Loading & Unloading Mounting the Sample 1. Samples for the CM12 are deposited as thin films on a copper mesh grid such as in Figure 13. This grid is the one loaded into the specimen holder (Figure 4) by first lifting the specimen clamp [24] using a pin-looking tool.
Erwin Sabio Philips CM12 Alignment & Setup Manual Page 12 Sample Image Adjustment-Optimizing Eucentric (Z) Height 1. Adjust the beam intensity on the sample or increase the magnification by turning the magnification knob [14] to see certain structures of the sample. Then pick a feature on the center of the sample as a reference point for adjusting the Z-height.
Erwin Sabio Philips CM12 Alignment & Setup Manual Page 13 5. Once rotation center has been aligned, press ALGN to exit the current mode. Sample Image Adjustment-Centering the Pivot Point 1. Adjusting the pivot point ensures that the beam of electrons coincide in one spot.
Erwin Sabio Philips CM12 Alignment & Setup Manual Page 14 Obtaining the Image Fine Tuning the Microscope 1. Use the mechanical stage controls to select certain areas of the sample to be captured. 2. Increase the magnification and adjust the focus knobs as necessary to see textures and fine features of the sample.
Erwin Sabio Philips CM12 Alignment & Setup Manual Page 15 Power Down Sequence 1. Return the viewing screen back to its original position and spread the beam. 2. If high magnification was used, lower the magnification to about 7100x by moving the magnification knob counter-clockwise.