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Nant'Themis

Technical specifications

The Nant’Themis is equipped with an X-FEG Schottky gun (high brilliance and great stability), a monochromator (achievable energy resolution < 100 meV) and a probe corrector (resolution 60 pm @ 300 kV in STEM). It is aligned at accelerating voltages of 300, 200 and 80 kV, chosen according to the sample and the techniques used to characterize it.

In addition to “classic” electron diffraction and imaging, newer or under development techniques are also available.

These include:

tomography with the use of data acquisition and reconstruction software (TEM and STEM);
electron precession (especially for electron crystallography) and phase and orientation mapping (Digistar and Astar from Nanomegas);
EDX spectroscopy (4-detector SuperX system): quantitative elemental analysis, mapping, 3D reconstruction;
STEM light element imaging (iDPC);
high-speed image acquisition in “in situ” mode: up to 300 fps in 512*512 pixels with the Gatan OneView IS camera;
diffraction imaging in STEM mode (Gatan STEMx).

The Nant’Themis is one of the first microscopes in Europe to feature a configuration combining a very high-resolution energy filter (Gatan GIF Quantum 966 ERS) with a direct electron detection camera (Gatan K2 Summit) in addition to the conventional CCD camera. This camera technology greatly improves the energy resolution and signal-to-noise ratio of electron energy loss spectra (EELS) compared with a CCD camera. EELS can be used to characterize samples that are highly sensitive to electron beams.

Seven object holders are available, depending on the application:

EDX analysis: single tilt (ST) (+-35°) and double tilt (DT) (+-35°, +-30°);
room temperature or cold tomography: ST (+-75°) and ST cryotransfer (+-80°) ;
characterization of air-sensitive samples: vacuum transfer or DT controlled atmosphere (+-35°, +-30°);
heating (1200 °C max.) MEMS technology with possible polarization;
“open cell” for operando studies: electrical probe (STM tip) and potentiostat/galvanostat module.

Other TEM instrument

Hitachi H9000NAR

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The Nant’Themis microscope was funded by the 2015-2020 State-Region Plan Contract (CPER). The Délégation Régionale CNRS DR17 covered most of the cost of the room and external access construction works.