Energy dispersive x-ray microanalysis spectrometer (EDS) and a sputter coating device

South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (Xamk) is purchasing a energy dispersive x-ray microanalysis spectrometer (EDS) and a sputter coating device according to this tender documentation. Equipment will be located to Mikpolis RDI-unit in Mikkeli. Pricing must include shipping costs to Mikkeli Finland (Patteristonkatu 3, 50100 Mikkeli, Finland). Installation and user training must be included.

The EDS system should be installed on a Hitachi S-4800 cold field emission scanning electron microscope (SEM) already installed in the lab and to replace an existing EDS system. Beam control interface and EDS communications software already exist in the SEM. As the SEM is optimized for high magnification studies it uses a magnetic immersion lens and its maximum beam current is 20 nA at 30kV the detector should be capable of x-ray collection at high solid angle and operation at short working distance. The system is used both with the magnetic immersion lens switched on (high mag observation) and off (low mag observation). This needs to be considered when selecting an appropriate collimator and BSE trap. Sample exchange is done through a load lock to keep the specimen chamber always under vacuum which would allow for a windowless EDS detector. As the laboratory often look at glass and materials containing boron (B) a windowless EDS detector option is of interest but not mandatory. To match the high resolution performance of the SEM Xamk is also purchasing a high resolution sputter coater at the same time. The coater should be capable at achieving high vacuum conditions (<1x10-5mb) for smallest possible grain size and flexibility when selecting sputter target materials. A sample chamber of at least 150 mm diameter to allow large samples or multiple smaller samples is preferred. The sample stage should allow both rotation and tilt to improve performance on rough sample surfaces. Coating thickness should be monitored during the coating process and it should be possible to set automatic stop conditions based on achieved coating thickness. Sputter targets should preferrably be of small diameter to minimize the material waste and targets for Ni, Cr, and Au/Pd should be included with the system.