2-5-98

I have a CCD attatched to the bottom of my Philips EM430 that, over the

years, has acquired a bit of dust, lost samples, Be rings, etc... I want

to be able to clean the surface off before I start my in-situ work, but am

a little tentative about doing this. Is there anything I should /

shouldn't do if I want to keep my job, i.e. what are the best ways to

destroy a CCD from the inside? What would be the best method of going

about this? Should I remove the whole camera or is it best to do this

inside the column? Thanks in advance for any help.

Brian Gorman bgorman@umr.edu

Graduate Research Assistant (573) 341-4405

Electronic Materials Applied Research Center

303 Materials Research Center

University of Missouri - Rolla

Rolla, MO 65409

http://www.umr.edu/~bgorman

We had a CCD camera set up like you described and when it needed cleaning

the Gatan man did the job. He removed the camera and gently flowed acetone

(or some solvent) over the scintillator to rinse the oil, dust, whatever,

off. It worked. I wasn't brave enough to do the cleaning (a CCD is a mega

expensive item if ya mess up). I recommend that you contact the

manufacturer and get their advice.

good luck,

beth

Beth Richardson

EM Lab Coordinator

Botany Department

University of Georgia

Athens, GA 30602

Phone - (706) 542-1790

FAX - (706) 542-1805

Email - beth@dogwood.botany.uga.edu

First, I am assuming the CCD you refer to is likely a GATAN camera. If

so, I offer this advice(and it comes with the many voices of

experience): Unless the objectives "fall: off the scintillating

surface via either CAREFULLY turning the camera on it's side to pour

out the trash, OR by CAREFULLY "encouraging" the trash out by applying

a slight metered air stream (e.g. try a spray/vacuum bulb such as used

on new born babies to relieve nasal blockage) after laying the camera

on its side. Once off the surface of the polished scintillator and on

the side wall, CAREFULLY using a long-stick swab can remove the trash

the rest of the way.

I stressed the word "CAREFULLY" because you don't want to rub the shiny

scintillator surface. It scratches as easy as the phosphor on a viewing

screen. If the above does not work, send the camera back to GATAN for a

scintillator recoating. The cost is about $400 or so and their turn

around time is very good. Good luck!

CLay Jordan

Customer Service Engineer

FEI/Philips Electron Optics

Clay_Jordan@pei.philips.com