Preparation of Unsupported Metal Organic and Ceramic Thin Film Specimens for TEM Observation |
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| Authors: | Suresh Kumar Gary L Messing Clive A Randall |
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| Affiliation: | Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Materials Research Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 |
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| Abstract: | A method for preparing TEM specimens from fragile metal organic resin and metal-organic-derived ceramic films is described. Unsupported films can be easily prepared by spin coating a metal organic solution onto a camphor substrate followed by separating the film by subliming the substrate. The method involves encapsulating the fragile film fragments in a low-viscosity, thermosetting, epoxy-hardener solution to obtain mechanical integrity. The encapsulated film can be easily hand polished to approximately 20-μm thickness in less than 1 h. Electron-transparent TEM specimens can then be prepared by ion-beam thinning the encapsulated film, after mounting it on a slotted copper grid. |
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