An Interview with Adam McCombs

Welcome, Adam McCombs! Check out his talk at Supercon and the associated article on Hackaday.com

• Scanning electron microscope
  • 0h 0m 45s
• 2017 got the first microscope
  • 0h 1m 10s
• Dan Burrard STM microscopes
  • 0h 1m 43s
• @Nanographs
  • 0h 2m 28s
• Vacuum is shockingly challenging
  • 0h 2m 46s
• Air stops behaving like a liquid
  • 0h 3m 57s
• Turbomolecular pumps
  • 0h 4m 16s
• 14.4 atm
  • 0h 5m 24s
• turbo pump looks like a turbine
  • 0h 6m 41s
• Roughing pump can get 10^-3 torr
  • 0h 8m 2s
• Thermionic emission gun
  • 0h 8m 54s
• Tungsten filament
  • 0h 9m 3s
• Magnetic lenses
  • 0h 9m 52s
• Electron detector
  • 0h 11m 0s
• Uses 400V to attract electrons towards the phospher
  • 0h 11m 13s
• Older systems needed higher energy electrons
  • 0h 12m 13s
• You can melt things in an electron microscope
  • 0h 13m 26s
• Electron-beam welder
  • 0h 14m 14s
• Cutting edge is wet samples
  • 0h 15m 18s
• Most things in SEMs are dead
  • 0h 15m 28s
• Newest semiconductors is 7-14 nm
  • 0h 17m 33s
• Optical vs SEM with Depth of Focus (DOF)
  • 0h 18m 50s
• Preparing the sample generally has to be conductive
  • 0h 19m 41s
• Non-conductive things are usually coated in gold
  • 0h 20m 26s
• Gold coated cheerio
  • 0h 21m 24s
• Thickness of the sputter depends on needs: thicker is less coating
  • 0h 22m 38s
• Angstroms vs nanometers
  • 0h 23m 37s
• SEM vs STM vs TEM
  • 0h 27m 28s
• SEM images the surface of things
  • 0h 27m 39s
• STM transmits electrons through the sample
  • 0h 27m 49s
• imaging bonds requires an atomically thin sample
  • 0h 28m 51s
• can image magnetic fields with a TEM
  • 0h 31m 30s
• can to tomography if you image things in sequence
  • 0h 31m 55s
• Learned about the brain project from Allen Institute
  • 0h 33m 51s
• Scanning tunneling electron microscope (stm)
  • 0h 34m 49s
• Doesn't operate at vacuum
  • 0h 35m 6s
• "Coarse approach done, now to bring it in to quantum tunneling range to start scanning. I always love when we can leverage quantum effects using tools you can just build out of parts from the hardware store, eBay, and digikey."
  • 0h 36m 22s
• SEM is for surface science
  • 0h 37m 28s
• TEM is used for things like asbestos
  • 0h 38m 5s
• Also used for histology (telling if a sample has a virus)
  • 0h 38m 57s
• STMs are more specialized - atomic resolution of the surface of a sample
  • 0h 40m 27s
• Fundamental material research
  • 0h 40m 47s
• IBM video "The boy and his atom"
  • 0h 41m 8s
• Multiframes is possible but resolution goes down
  • 0h 41m 46s
• Similar to a camera with different exposure
  • 0h 41m 58s
• Ben Krasnow videos
  • 0h 44m 6s
• First scope was "some assembly required"
  • 0h 45m 13s
• Most o-rings are viton - silicon based
  • 0h 46m 8s
• ISI super 3A
  • 0h 46m 42s
• Jeol 35C
  • 0h 47m 4s
• VacuumHackers.com
  • 0h 49m 9s
• Digital capture isn't normally included
  • 0h 51m 47s
• Polaroid film holder to capature images
  • 0h 52m 53s
• Now doing this for a business as well
  • 0h 54m 11s
• Repairs, consulting, moving
  • 0h 55m 4s
• Might be recreating old parts
  • 0h 55m 27s
• Might be manufacturing heavy and creating parts that enables new pieces
  • 0h 55m 36s
• The materials of these hasn't changed much over the years
  • 0h 57m 20s
• Column is usually made out of iron
  • 0h 59m 40s
• Electronics usually aren't the problem
  • 1h 0m 36s
• Philips manuals are really detailed
  • 1h 2m 9s
• Manuals for older things are non existent
  • 1h 2m 21s
• Example of a common failure: beam jumping around
  • 1h 3m 1s
• RAM failure on a jeol 1200
  • 1h 4m 48s
• Working with high voltage
  • 1h 6m 1s
• High voltage tank
  • 1h 7m 53s
• Putting the electronics into oil
  • 1h 8m 34s
• xray safety is a big concern in TEMs with 120kV+ electrons
  • 1h 9m 39s
• Multiple geiger counters (thin window)
  • 1h 10m 11s
• Follow along on @nanographs
  • 1h 14m 31s
• VacuumHackers.com
  • 1h 14m 57s
• nwnlabs.org
  • 1h 16m 20s
• (Not mentioned during the show) Adam will be at M&M conference in Portland this year