Sputter Coating

Sputter coating is a specialization of the sputtering technique designed to coat a substrate with gold. This is achieved by bombarding a material with argon causing the atoms on the surface of the material to vaporize and coating everything inside the vacuum chamber. This technique is used to coat a non-conducing sample with up to 20 [nm] of gold to improve the imaging performance scanning electron microscopy.

Denton Desk II

DescriptionSpecification
Sample Size< 60 [mm]
Target MaterialAu
Deposition Rate0.5 [nm/s]
Equipment_SputterCoater_A
Equipment_SputterCoater_B

Examples

Microscopy_ChargingGlass
Samples that are not conducting produces distorted images in an SEM.
Deposition_BacteriaAu
Fixed bacteria on a glass substrate can be imaged in an SEM after it has been coated with 20 [nm] of gold.

Core Technology

Core TechnologyDescription
SOP: Denton Desk IIThis document is the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the Denton Desk II sputter coater at UHNF. This SOP serves as a foundation for initial training and ensures that the equipment can be operated correctly, by everyone, the first time.