Microchip systems for imaging liquid and high temperature processes in TEM & SEM

Microchips systems have found their way into electron microscopes in order to make miniatureplatforms for controlled liquid and gaseous environments that also begin to include electricalcontacts and other types of interactions with the sample, such as application of forces andirradiation with light.This presentation will explain the different types of microchip systems and give examples of someof the results we have achieved with our devices and examples of how such devices can be usedfor research related to energy storage and conversion.Heaters can be made in several ways, and monocrystalline silicon cantilever heaters havesuccessfully been used to grow silicon nanowires in-situ TEM to create an electrically contactednanowire bridge between to cantilevers.

This makes it possible to make IV measurements of the pristine wires [1]. Such heaters might find use for heated and electrically contacted measurementson high temperature fuel cell systems. For imaging processes in liquids, our SEM system enables imaging on-chip microelectrodes andusing standard built-in reference electrodes [2].

To get higher resolution in TEM, we have createda monolithic chip system with suspended microfabricated channels [3]. Both systems will allowhigh resolution imaging of heterogeneous electrochemical processes such as those in batteries.Based on the suspended microfluidic channels, we are also developing microchips that enableultrafast freezing of processes in liquids.