Specifications include, but are not limited to: 1. Ion Mill (IM) Basic layout: 1a Instrument formfactor: The IM shall be a benchtop device measuring no more than 1x1m (not including attached or free-standing PCs or screens). 1b Must work with high-purity argon. 1c Must have the ion gun(s) in a main work chamber. 1d Must have an additional antechamber (also known as load-lock chamber) which enables fast sample exchange while maintaining the vacuum in the work chamber. 1e To enable high-throughput preparation even for slow-milling materials, the ion mill must either have (a) at least one ion gun capable of delivering ion energies up to 16 keV, or (b) at least two independent ion guns each capable of delivering ion energies up to 10 keV. In either case, the lower energy bound for the ion gun(s) must be 2 keV or less. 1f Given that our samples are primarily metallic materials, a low-energy ion gun dedicated to gentle surface polishing and cleaning is not required and may be omitted at the bidder’s discretion in an effort to make the overall bid more cost-effective. 1g Once initiated, the IM must be capable of automatically executing and completing user-defined recipes. 1h The operation of the load lock (moving sample between work chamber and antechamber, all required pumping and venting, etc.) must be fully automatic. 1i It is preferred that the IM sample stage be actively water-cooled (or equivalent coolant liquid loop). However, passive cooling is also acceptable. Other active cooling methods, such as by a Peltier element, are not needed. Given the high thermal stability of our mostly metallic samples, liquid nitrogen cooling is not needed and shall not be included. 2. Flat-Milling: 2a For flat milling, it must be possible to tilt the sample at least between 0 and 10 degrees. 2b Sample tilt must be motorized for automatic adjustment, i.e. it must not require manual adjustment. 2c It must be possible to set a different tilt value for each step within a recipe.
