CN115200970B

CN115200970B - Rotatable continuous refrigeration sample platform

Info

Publication number: CN115200970B
Application number: CN202211130298.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘晓斌; 宋岚; 张科阳; 李涛
Original assignee: Changzhou Longskop Electronic Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Changzhou Longskop Electronic Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-09-16
Filing date: 2022-09-16
Publication date: 2023-01-03
Anticipated expiration: 2042-09-16
Also published as: CN115200970A

Abstract

The invention provides a rotatable continuous refrigeration sample stage, which relates to the technical field of electron microscopes, and comprises: the sample platform comprises a sample platform body, wherein the sample platform body is connected with a rotating transmission device at the bottom through a rotating shaft, a refrigerating ring is sleeved on the rotating shaft below the sample platform body, and the refrigerating ring is connected with a refrigerating device through a refrigerating connecting piece. According to the sample table, the sample table body is connected with the rotating transmission device through the rotating shaft, the rotating shaft below the sample table body is sleeved with the refrigerating ring, and the refrigerating ring is connected with the refrigerating device through the refrigerating connecting piece, so that the sample table body is always kept connected with the refrigerating connecting piece in the rotating process along with the rotating shaft, the refrigerating device can refrigerate the sample table body through the refrigerating connecting piece and the refrigerating ring in the whole rotating process of the sample table body, and the sample table body is guaranteed to refrigerate while rotating.

Description

Rotatable continuous refrigeration sample platform

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of electron microscopes, in particular to a rotatable continuous refrigeration sample stage.

Background

Ion beam polishing is a common sample preparation process for electron microscopes, and is used to shape the surface of a sample to obtain a flat observation surface or to thin the sample to a suitable thickness for observation. For example, in the fields of material science and life science, it is often necessary to cut and grind a sample before it can be taken into an electron microscope for further imaging.

Currently, ion beam polishing generally employs an argon ion beam ionized and accelerated by a high voltage, which has a high energy by itself. The temperature of the sample under continuous bombardment by the ion beam will rise significantly, which is fatal to the sample that is not temperature-tolerant. For example, in the case of a biological sample after freezing, if the temperature is increased, the existing fixed structure is destroyed, and the sample is damaged. Therefore, the sample stage needs to be cooled.

In order to ensure that the sample is processed uniformly, the sample table needs to rotate. This creates difficulties for the connection of the refrigeration heat sink. The existing commercial product can refrigerate the sample stage in a point contact refrigeration mode. However, in this point contact manner, the ion beam operation needs to be interrupted during the refrigeration, and the ion beam cannot be continuously refrigerated in real time during the rotation of the sample stage, i.e., during the ion beam operation.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is directed to a rotatable and continuously refrigerated sample stage that at least partially solves at least one of the above mentioned problems.

In a first aspect, to solve the above technical problem, the present invention provides a rotatable continuous refrigeration sample stage, including: the sample platform comprises a sample platform body, wherein the sample platform body is connected with a rotating transmission device at the bottom through a rotating shaft, a refrigerating ring is sleeved on the rotating shaft below the sample platform body, and the refrigerating ring is connected with a refrigerating device through a refrigerating connecting piece.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the refrigeration connection comprises: the refrigeration ring is connected with the refrigeration ring, and the other end of the refrigeration ring is connected with the rotary transmission device.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a heat insulation structure is sleeved on the rotating shaft below the refrigeration ring, and the heat insulation structure comprises: the heat insulation structure comprises a first heat insulation layer and a second heat insulation layer, wherein a plurality of heat insulation columns are arranged between the first heat insulation layer and the second heat insulation layer.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a sample stage holder is disposed on a rotating shaft between the sample stage body and the refrigerating ring.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the refrigerating apparatus comprises: the Dewar flask is provided with a cold source, a cooling piece is arranged on the Dewar flask, and the cooling piece is connected with the refrigeration ring through a refrigeration strip.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cooling member includes an outer wall and a cold head, one end of the outer wall is disposed on a side surface of the dewar, the other end of the outer wall is connected to one end of the cold head, the other end of the cold head is provided with a second flange, the second flange is connected to one end of the cooling strip through a screw, and the other end of the cooling strip is connected to the cooling ring through a screw, wherein: the outer wall and the interior of the cold head are in a vacuum state, and the sectional area of the cold head is smaller than that of the outer wall.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the rotation transmission means comprises: the bevel gear comprises a first tooth and a second tooth, the first tooth of the bevel gear is arranged on the rotating shaft, and the second tooth is perpendicular to the first tooth and is connected with the rotary driving device.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the rotation transmission device further comprises: and the second teeth are connected with the cross rod, and the other end of the cross rod is respectively connected with the rotary driving device and the horizontal movement driving device through flanges.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, further comprising: a horizontal retention mechanism, the horizontal retention mechanism comprising: the supporting frame is provided with a first through hole and a second through hole which are positioned on the same horizontal line, the first through hole and the second through hole are respectively provided with a first horizontal support and a second horizontal support in a penetrating mode, and the rotating transmission device is erected on the first horizontal support and the second horizontal support.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the sample stage further comprises a vacuum cavity for wrapping the sample stage body, the vacuum cavity is provided with two through holes respectively penetrating the first horizontal support and the second horizontal support, one end of the first horizontal support and one end of the second horizontal support respectively penetrate the two through holes, and the other end of the first horizontal support and the other end of the second horizontal support respectively penetrate the first through hole and the second through hole.

In summary, according to the rotatable continuous refrigeration sample stage, the rotating shaft below the sample stage body is sleeved with the refrigeration ring, the refrigeration ring is connected with the refrigeration device through the refrigeration connecting piece, the refrigeration device can transmit the refrigeration capacity to the refrigeration ring through the refrigeration connecting piece in the whole rotation process of the sample stage body, the refrigeration ring can be always sleeved on the rotating shaft without rotating under the constraint of the refrigeration connecting piece, continuous refrigeration of the sample stage body above is achieved, and therefore the sample stage body is guaranteed to be refrigerated while rotating.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a rotatable continuous refrigeration sample stage according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged partial schematic view of the circle in FIG. 1;

wherein: 1-sample stage body, 2-sample stage holder, 3-rotating shaft, 41-first tooth, 42-second tooth, 43-driving device, 431-rotating driving device, 432-horizontal moving driving device, 433-cross bar, 434-cavity connecting flange, 435-moving part connecting flange, 44-bracket, 5-refrigeration ring, 6-refrigeration connecting piece, 61-refrigeration strip, 62-fixed vertical rod, 7-refrigeration device, 71-Dewar flask, 72-cooling piece, 721-outer wall, 722-cold head, 8-heat insulation structure, 81-first heat insulation layer, 82-second heat insulation layer, 83-heat insulation column, 9-horizontal holding mechanism, 91-supporting bracket, 92-first horizontal bracket, 93-second horizontal bracket.

Detailed Description

Features and exemplary embodiments of various aspects of the present invention will be described in detail below, and in order to make objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. The following description of the embodiments is merely intended to provide a better understanding of the present invention by illustrating examples of the present invention.

It is noted that, herein, relational terms such as first and second, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. Also, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrases "comprising 8230; \8230;" comprises 8230; "does not exclude the presence of additional like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, an embodiment of the invention provides a rotatable continuous refrigeration sample stage, including: sample platform body 1 is located sample platform support 2 of 1 below of sample platform body, sample platform body 1 and sample platform support 2 are connected with the rotation transmission of bottom through pivot 3, the cover is equipped with refrigeration ring 5 in the pivot of 2 below of sample platform support, refrigeration ring 5 is connected with refrigerating plant 7 through refrigeration connecting piece 6. The during operation, it makes sample platform body 1 and sample platform hold in the palm 2 along with the pivot 3 rotatoryly to rotate through the drive, and refrigeration ring 5 can not be rotatory along with pivot 3 owing to receive the restraint of refrigeration connecting piece 6, but can keep being connected with refrigeration connecting piece 6 always, refrigeration device 7 can transmit the refrigeration volume to refrigeration ring 5 through refrigeration connecting piece 6 at 1 whole rotatory in-process of sample platform body, and refrigeration ring 5 receives the restraint of refrigeration connecting piece 6, can keep the cover to realize the continuous refrigeration to sample platform body 1 in 3 irrotations of pivot, thereby guarantee sample platform body 1 and refrigerate in the rotatory while.

For example, as shown in fig. 2, the sample stage body 1 and the sample stage holder 2 may be configured as a cylinder for rotation. Wherein: the sample table body 1, the sample table support 2, the refrigeration ring 5 and the refrigeration connecting piece 6 can be made of metal materials, and the refrigeration ring 5 and the refrigeration connecting piece 6 are preferably made of metal with good heat conduction performance, and are further preferably made of copper.

Wherein: the refrigeration connecting piece 6 may be a metal strip with a thickness smaller than a preset value, the refrigeration ring 5 and the refrigeration device 7 may be flexibly connected or rigidly connected through the refrigeration connecting piece 6, and the present invention is not limited specifically. In order to make the refrigeration ring 5 more stable during the rotation of the shaft 3, in one example, as shown in fig. 2, the refrigeration connection 6 comprises: refrigeration strip 61 and fixed pole setting 62, fixed pole setting 62 one end respectively with refrigeration strip 61 and refrigeration ring 5 are connected, the other end with rotate transmission and connect to it is fixed with refrigeration strip 61 and refrigeration ring 5 through fixed pole setting 62, guarantee to refrigerate ring 5 fixed irrotational in 3 rotatory in-process in the pivot, realize the refrigeration that lasts to top sample platform body 1.

As shown in fig. 1, the refrigeration apparatus 7 includes: the Dewar flask 71 is provided with a cold source, a cooling piece 72 is arranged on the Dewar flask 71, and the cooling piece 72 is connected with the refrigeration ring 5 through a refrigeration connecting piece 6. Specifically, the cooling element 72 includes a cylindrical outer wall 721 having one end disposed on the side of the dewar 71, the other end of the outer wall 721 is connected to one end of the cylindrical cold head 722, and the outer wall 721 and the cold head 722 are in a vacuum state, so as to achieve the dewar effect. The other end of cold head 722 is equipped with the second flange, and the second flange can be connected with refrigeration strip 61 one end through the screw, and the refrigeration strip 61 other end can be connected with refrigeration ring 5 through the screw, wherein: the sectional area of the cold head 722 is smaller than that of the outer wall 721, so that the cooling effect of the cold source is ensured. The cold source can adopt liquid nitrogen. Further, the other end of the outer wall 721 may be connected to a first flange, through which the refrigeration unit 7 may be fixed to other equipment.

Further, in order to reduce the dissipation of the cooling capacity in the transmission process, a heat insulation structure 8 may be sleeved on the rotating shaft below the cooling ring 5, and as shown in fig. 2, the heat insulation structure 8 includes: a first heat insulating layer 81 and a second heat insulating layer 82, with a plurality of heat insulating pillars 83 provided between the first heat insulating layer 81 and the second heat insulating layer 82. The cold energy in the refrigerating ring 5 can be effectively isolated from being transferred downwards through the heat insulation structure 8, and the cold energy loss in the refrigerating process is reduced. Preferably, the heat insulating structure 8 may be made of teflon or other polymer material to insulate cold transfer between metals.

In this embodiment, the rotation transmission device includes a bevel gear, and as shown in fig. 1, the bevel gear includes a first tooth 41 and a second tooth 42 perpendicular to each other, the first tooth 41 is disposed on the rotating shaft 3, and the second tooth 42 perpendicular to the first tooth 41 is connected to a driving device 43. The bevel gear is driven by a driving device 43 to rotate the rotating shaft, wherein: the driving device 43 may be a rotary driving device 431, and may further include a horizontal movement driving device 432, as shown in fig. 2, the second tooth 42 is connected to one end of a horizontal cross bar 433, and the other end of the cross bar 433 is connected to the rotary driving device 431 and the horizontal movement driving device 432 through flanges, respectively. Wherein: the cross rod 433 can be a hollow cavity, the flange can include a cavity connecting flange 434 connected with the cross rod 433 and a moving part connecting flange 435 respectively connected with the rotary driving device 431 and the horizontal movement driving device 432, the rotary driving device 431 and the horizontal movement driving device 432 can adopt motors, the rotary driving device is driven by the rotary driving device 431 to drive the sample stage body 1 to rotate, the rotary driving device is driven by the horizontal movement driving device 432 to drive the sample stage body 1 to move horizontally, and the horizontal accurate movement of the sample stage body 1 is guaranteed. Further, as shown in fig. 2, an inverted "L" shaped bracket 44 may be further disposed between the second tooth 42 and the cross bar 433, a vertical end of the bracket 44 is disposed between the second tooth 42 and the cross bar 433, a horizontal end of the bracket is sleeved on the rotating shaft 3 between the heat insulating structure 8 and the first tooth 41, and the other end of the fixing upright 62 is fixed to the horizontal end.

Further, in order to ensure that the sample stage body 1 is stable in the adjusting process, a horizontal holding mechanism 9 may be further disposed below the rotation transmission device, as shown in fig. 1, where the horizontal holding mechanism 9 includes: the supporting frame 91 is provided with a first through hole and a second through hole which are positioned on the same horizontal line, the first through hole and the second through hole are respectively provided with a first horizontal support 92 and a second horizontal support 93 in a penetrating mode, and the rotating transmission device is erected on the first horizontal support 92 and the second horizontal support 93.

The rotatable continuous refrigeration sample stage provided by the embodiment of the invention can be used for ion polishing or thinning, so that the rotatable continuous refrigeration sample stage is required to be in a vacuum state, and the rotatable continuous refrigeration sample stage is arranged in a vacuum chamber cavity and provides a vacuum environment through the vacuum chamber cavity. Wherein: two through holes penetrating into the first horizontal support 92 and the second horizontal support 93 are arranged at corresponding positions of the vacuum cavity, one ends of the first horizontal support 92 and the second horizontal support 93 respectively penetrate into the corresponding through holes, and the other ends of the first horizontal support 92 and the second horizontal support 93 respectively penetrate into the first through hole and the second through hole.

According to the rotatable continuous refrigeration sample stage, the sample stage body 1 is connected with the rotary transmission device at the bottom through the rotating shaft 3, and the rotary transmission device is driven to enable the sample stage body 1 to rotate along with the rotating shaft 3; meanwhile, the refrigeration ring 5 is sleeved on the rotating shaft 3 below the sample stage body 1, and the refrigeration ring 5 is connected with the refrigeration device 7 through the refrigeration connecting piece 6, so that the refrigeration ring 5 cannot rotate along with the rotating shaft 3 due to the constraint of the refrigeration connecting piece 6 in the rotating process of the sample stage body 1 along with the rotating shaft 3, but can be always connected with the refrigeration connecting piece 6, so that the refrigeration device 7 can transmit refrigeration quantity to the refrigeration ring 5 through the refrigeration connecting piece 6 in the whole rotating process of the sample stage body 1, and the refrigeration ring 5 can be always sleeved on the rotating shaft 3 without rotating due to the constraint of the refrigeration connecting piece 6, so that continuous refrigeration of the sample stage body 1 above is realized, and the sample stage body 1 is ensured to refrigerate while rotating, compared with the prior art, the refrigeration device has the following beneficial effects:

1. the sample platform body 1 can directly rotate to work while refrigerating, the ion beam work does not need to be stopped during refrigerating, time consumption is reduced, and the refrigerating effect is enhanced.

2. The intermittent refrigeration is changed into continuous refrigeration, and the surface contact refrigeration is realized through the refrigeration ring 5, so that the refrigeration effect is improved.

3. The sample table body 1 is directly connected with a cold source, and the cold source does not need to be interrupted during working;

4. the heat insulation structure 8 can prevent the cold energy from being emitted without limit;

5. the horizontal movement driving mechanism 432 and the horizontal holding mechanism 9 can realize the horizontal accurate movement of the sample table body 1.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. A detailed description of known methods is omitted herein for the sake of brevity. In the above embodiments, several specific steps are described and shown as examples. However, the method processes of the present invention are not limited to the specific steps described and illustrated, and those skilled in the art can make various changes, modifications and additions, or change the order between the steps, after comprehending the spirit of the present invention.

It should also be noted that the exemplary embodiments mentioned in this patent describe some methods or systems based on a series of steps or devices. However, the present invention is not limited to the order of the above-described steps, that is, the steps may be performed in the order mentioned in the embodiments, may be performed in an order different from the order in the embodiments, or may be performed simultaneously.

As described above, only the specific embodiments of the present invention are provided, and it can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the system, the module and the unit described above may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again. It should be understood that the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive various equivalent modifications or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention, and these modifications or substitutions should be covered within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A rotatable continuous refrigeration sample platform, characterized in that includes: the sample table comprises a sample table body, wherein the sample table body is connected with a rotating transmission device at the bottom through a rotating shaft, a refrigerating ring is sleeved on the rotating shaft below the sample table body and is flexibly connected with a refrigerating device through a refrigerating connecting piece, and a heat insulation structure is sleeved on the rotating shaft below the refrigerating ring;

the refrigeration connector includes: the refrigeration device comprises a fixed vertical rod and a refrigeration strip, wherein two ends of the refrigeration strip are respectively connected with the refrigeration ring and the refrigeration device;

the rotation transmission device includes: the bevel gear comprises a first tooth and a second tooth, the first tooth of the bevel gear is arranged on the rotating shaft, the second tooth perpendicular to the first tooth is connected with a cross rod, and the other end of the cross rod is respectively connected with the rotary driving device and the horizontal movement driving device through flanges; an inverted L-shaped support is arranged between the second tooth and the cross rod, the vertical end of the support is arranged between the second tooth and the cross rod, the horizontal end of the support is sleeved on a rotating shaft between the heat insulation structure and the first tooth, and the other end of the fixed vertical rod is fixed on the horizontal end.

2. The rotatable continuously refrigerated sample stage of claim 1 wherein the thermally insulating structure comprises: the heat insulation structure comprises a first heat insulation layer and a second heat insulation layer, wherein a plurality of heat insulation columns are arranged between the first heat insulation layer and the second heat insulation layer.

3. The rotatable continuous refrigeration sample stage of claim 1, wherein a sample stage holder is arranged on a rotating shaft between the sample stage body and the refrigeration ring.

4. The rotatable continuous refrigeration sample stage of claim 2, wherein the refrigeration device comprises: the Dewar flask that is equipped with the cold source, be equipped with the cooling piece on the Dewar flask, the cooling piece through refrigeration strip with the refrigeration is encircled and is connected.

5. The rotatable continuous refrigeration sample stage of claim 4, wherein the cooling member comprises an outer wall and a cold head, one end of the outer wall is arranged on the side surface of the Dewar flask, the other end of the outer wall is connected with one end of the cold head, the other end of the cold head is provided with a second flange, the second flange is connected with one end of a refrigeration strip through a screw, the other end of the refrigeration strip is connected with the refrigeration ring through a screw, and wherein: the outer wall and the interior of the cold head are in a vacuum state, and the sectional area of the cold head is smaller than that of the outer wall.

6. The rotatable continuous refrigeration sample stage of any one of claims 1-5, further comprising: a horizontal retention mechanism, the horizontal retention mechanism comprising: the supporting frame is provided with a first through hole and a second through hole which are positioned on the same horizontal line, the first through hole and the second through hole are respectively provided with a first horizontal support and a second horizontal support in a penetrating mode, and the rotating transmission device is erected on the first horizontal support and the second horizontal support.

7. The rotatable continuous-refrigeration sample stage as claimed in claim 6, further comprising a vacuum chamber for enclosing the sample stage body, wherein the vacuum chamber is provided with two through holes for respectively penetrating the first horizontal bracket and the second horizontal bracket, one end of the first horizontal bracket and one end of the second horizontal bracket respectively penetrate the two through holes, and the other end of the first horizontal bracket and the other end of the second horizontal bracket respectively penetrate the first through hole and the second through hole.