NTEGRA platform: Applications

 Environmental  control  options

• The PNL NTEGRA is equipped with precision temperature alteration and control facilities. This gives the opportunity to vary the sample temperature from  -30 ^oC to 300 ^oC. Therefore measurements of such phenomena as structural changes at the surface of specimens (due to crystallization, melting, growth processes etc.) are possible.
   
• A special thermohead featuring a very low thermal drift ensures high temperature stability of the tip-sample system. This allows long-term experiments to be done at pre-defined points on the specimen surface.
   
• The PNL NTEGRA includes a closed flow-thru liquid cell with an option of heating its cotents up to 60 ^oC. Therefore measurements in liquid environment, which are very important for biological, chemical and some material applications, are possible. Biological objects, such as living cells and interacting macromolecules, can now be observed in close-to-native conditions.
   
• The base unit can be enclosed within a specially designed cast metal hood equipped with a set of feedthroughs. This hood seals the system hermetically and, using a rotary pump, can operate both in vacuum (10^-2 Torr) and in a controlled gas atmosphere. This extends the system performance and enables researchers to study and modify nanostructures in various rarefied gas environments with a controlled gas composition. 

• The inverted optical microscope is a one of the main instruments in the research of transparent samples. Its combination with the SPM parts of the PNL NTEGRA leads to the  molecular scale detalization of images  that are typically obtained with the micron resolution using a stand-alone optical microscope. In this set-up the microscope objective is inserted  into a special optical measuring head mount of the PNL NTEGRA. This secures high mechanical rigidity and stability of the system making it possible to get high quality images during long-term measurements.  Bright-field and fluorescence microscopy is also available in this configuration. 
• A different optical scheme has been realized to meet the requirements of simultaneous SPM investigations with visualization of non-transparent objects. In this scheme a high numerical aperture video microscope objective  with long working distance is integrated into a special head which allows observation of the area normally obscured by the cantilever for a direct view. This unique set-up gives the opportunity to inspect specimens with a high optical resolution (up to 0.4 um), then select the region of interest and finally analyse it with the SPM achieving a resolution of several nanometers. The video microscope objective can also be employed to deliver an appropriate laser beam underneath the cantilever  to investigate local spectral properties of the object.
• These SPM assemblies can be useful in biology, material science etc.