Purchase of a sputter coater

Description

DTU is planning to purchase a sputter coater, Leica EM ACE600 from Triolab A/S. The Leica system is the only system that offers sputter coating, carbon coating and glow discharge in one system without exchanging heads or venting the preparation chamber between preparation steps. This offers easy and user-friendly usage for the variety of users we have at our open access facility and avoids contamination between steps. Reasons for the Direct Award: The Leica system is a preparation tool for electron microscopy. It combines metal sputter coating, carbon coating and glow discharge in one system. These are needed for TEM and SEM sample preparation. Depending on the process, the system offers to possibility to switch between the different modes (sputter, carbon coating, glow discharge) without venting the chamber and exchanging sources. This avoids contamination between steps and an easy-to-use workflow for the variety of users at our open access facility. The system is identical to an already existing system at DTU Nanolab, which allows exchange of consumables and spare parts and a higher uptime.