A compact multipurpose nanomanipulator for use inside a scanning electron microscope

E C Heeres; A J Katan; M H van Es; A F Beker; M Hesselberth; D J van der Zalm; T H Oosterkamp

doi:10.1063/1.3271033

A compact multipurpose nanomanipulator for use inside a scanning electron microscope

Rev Sci Instrum. 2010 Feb;81(2):023704. doi: 10.1063/1.3271033.

Authors

E C Heeres¹, A J Katan, M H van Es, A F Beker, M Hesselberth, D J van der Zalm, T H Oosterkamp

Affiliation

¹ Leiden Institute of Physics, Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2333 CA Leiden, The Netherlands.

PMID: 20192499
DOI: 10.1063/1.3271033

Abstract

A compact, two-stage nanomanipulator was designed and built for use inside a scanning electron microscope. It consists of a fine stage employing piezostacks that provide a 15 microm range in three dimensions and a coarse stage based on commercially available stick-slip motors. Besides the fabrication of enhanced probes for scanning probe microscopy and the enhancement of electron field emitters, other novel manipulation processes were developed, such as locating, picking up, and positioning small nanostructures with an accuracy of approximately 10 nm. In combination with in situ I-V experiments, welding, and etching, this results in a multipurpose nanofactory, enabling a new range of experiments.