A great many factors affect the quality of data one can collect on any given instrument, but there are times when simply holding the aliquot is a major hurdle. We spend a great deal of time working out the best ways to hold odd samples and even create custom hardware to do so in some cases. Click here for some of our other posts related to the various sample holders we work with. Choosing the best sample holder for a given project is one thing, but there are also times when a completely different stage is required.
The most common stage is the simple, single sample stage. This relies on three pins to define the plane of diffraction. The sample holder is pressed against these pins by a spring loaded plunger beneath it.
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- The most common stage is the simple, single sample stage. This relies on three pins to define the plane of diffraction. The sample holder is pressed against these pins by a spring loaded plunger beneath it.
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- The D5000 version added a 4th pin which allows for the entire lower section to be removed and custom fixtures to be added.
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- This is a completely custom stage designed to hold a large thrust bearing race such that the bottom of the groove is in the plane of diffraction for retained austenite and residual stress measurements. The bearing is held in place by magnets.
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- Another variant of the D5000/D8 single sample stage eliminates the need for a lower section, but still retains the standard pin arrangement. This is extremely useful for very large samples which can be held up to the plane of diffraction by a lab-jack. We’ve used a piece of foam here to create some spring tension.
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- Rotating sample stages are an excellent way to improve data consistency and should be considered a basic requirement for reliable quantitative XRD data. Simple models just rotate the sample at some fixed speed and are very simple to operate.
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- More advanced rotating stages are driven by a stepper motor. This allows them to rotate at any speed within their range, but also offers and extra degree of freedom which can be used for scanning or oscillations. We refer to these stages as Phi drives.
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- We prefer zero background holders for small volumes of sample, but there are times when a sealed capillary is the only way to go. This stage holds the capillary and allows for its position to be precisely adjusted into the beam path. This can be a bit tedious, but running highly reactive materials would be much more difficult and dangerous any other way.
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- Non-ambient stages allow control over temperature, atmosphere, humidity and sometimes even pressure. This particular stage can operate anywhere from -170 (LNC Cooled) to 300 C. Inert gas or ambient atmosphere are also possible.
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- This stage is purely for heating. With a maximum temperature setting of 2400 C, the ability to purge the chamber to a high vacuum is essential. The blue hoses are for cooling the outer body of the stage.
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- On the other end of the spectrum is this specialized Oxford stage which can cool a sample to 12 K all while an XRD experiment is running. It uses liquid Helium in a recirculating loop.
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- Vacuum holding is common when working with semiconductors or other materials with very consistent thicknesses.
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- This is a specialty stage for performing XRR analysis on wafers. The flat area of the stage is a vacuum wafer chuck which can be precisely raised and lowered to put the surface exactly in the plane of diffraction.
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- For those who never know what might come through the door, a full-sized XYZ stage might be the only answer. This unit offers 50mm of travel in all axes and can be software controlled to allow for iterations, loops, oscillations or texture mapping.
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- Taking this idea to giddy extremes we have a stage designed for micro-diffraction and texture. Beyond the standard Theta and 2Theta, this goniometer is equipped with Chi, Phi X, Y and Z axes. It’s quite impressive when they’re all working in concert to orient a sample.