Leica MED 020 and VCT100
High vacuum fracture, coating and sample transfer system for cryo work
Photo credit: Leica
The MED020 is a high vacuum coating system for multipurpose applications.
For accurate film thickness, a quartz crystal is mounted which monitor and ensures high reproducibility of evaporated layers by precisely measuring film thickness and coating rates.
Applications
- Carbon rod evaporation (C)
- Electron beam evaporation (Pt/C)
In combination with the VCT100
- Freeze fracture
- Freeze drying
- Freeze etching
- Double replica
- Cryo coating for cryo SEM
- High vacuum cryo transfer for observation of frozen samples
Freeze fracture technique
The term freeze fracture encompasses a series of techniques which reveals and replicates internal components of organelles and other membrane structures for examination in the electron microscope.
Freeze etching removes layers of ice by sublimation and exposes membrane surfaces that were originally hidden.
Using the electron beam evaporation module, films can be produced with shadowing effects as well as replicas for TEM analysis.
Transferring samples
The VCT100 also cross-links the MED020 and the Quanta 3D SEM.
A cryo coated sample can be transferred, contamination-free and under vacuum & low temperature conditions using the VCT100 shuttle to the cryo stage inside the SEM chamber for cryo observation.
CFIM
