Hi FESEM users,
The Hitachi service engineer did the year’s maintenance on the FESEM this past Monday and Tuesday 5/20 and 5/21.
1) He fixed the spring on the stage where we slid the specimen mount in. It was loose and that was causing some vibration. We should not see less jiggling images at higher magnification.
2) He did the full column alignment. From now on, use the software only when you do the alignments. Do not change the physical knobs of the apertures.
3) The beam monitor aperture is set at position 2, and should be kept at 2 !!!
4) If you ever need to change the objective aperture, only use the knob to switch between apertures 1, 3, or 4. Do not use aperture 2.
Objective aperture sizes: 1 > 3 = 2 > 4
Attn.: Objective apertures 2 and 3 have the same size. We exchange them annually when one or the other gets dirty. This year we are using 3.
Remember: Home stage position is: X=Y=Z=12.5 mm, Tilt = 0, Rotation = 0
Please, let me know if you still experience any problems.
Erico Freitas