Retractable Lens-Coupled Camera for Electron Microscope Vacuum
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The existing lens-coupled electron microscopes face issues with image sharpness, sensitivity, and mechanical alignment due to the presence of extra glass vacuum windows, which increase optical aberrations, light absorption, and scatter, and complicate mechanical interfaces, especially when the image sensor is outside the vacuum chamber.
Innovation Solution
Placing the CCD, scintillator, and lens within the electron microscope vacuum chamber, eliminating the need for additional vacuum barriers, and using a fixed mechanical linkage to maintain alignment and focus during retraction and insertion, allowing for a more compact and high-quality optical system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If two vacuum windows are added to house the image sensor outside the vacuum chamber, then the sensor can be cooled without condensation and vacuum integrity is maintained, but image sharpness is reduced and optical aberrations increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the image sensor from the external environment and places it directly inside the vacuum chamber, eliminating the need for vacuum windows. This removes the optical barriers that caused image degradation while maintaining vacuum integrity through a different architectural approach.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the vacuum chamber environment with the sensor housing, creating a unified space where both the electron microscope components and the cooled sensor coexist. This integration eliminates the interface between vacuum and atmosphere that required additional glass elements.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If two vacuum windows are added to maintain vacuum integrity, then x-ray shielding is provided, but light absorption increases and sensitivity is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the vacuum windows entirely from the optical path by placing the sensor inside the vacuum chamber. The x-ray shielding function is maintained through the chamber's inherent structure, while light transmission is no longer compromised by additional glass interfaces.
3Reliability
If two vacuum windows are added to house the sensor, then vacuum containment is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the vacuum chamber and sensor housing into a single integrated structure. The sensor is mounted directly on the chamber wall or within the chamber volume, eliminating the need for separate window assemblies and their associated mounting, sealing, and alignment mechanisms.
4Manufacturing precision
If mechanical linkage is added to maintain alignment during retraction, then focal alignment is preserved, but the linkage must run parallel to or surround the optical chain increasing complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the retractable camera mechanism entirely by placing the sensor permanently inside the vacuum chamber. This eliminates the need for complex mechanical linkages that would be required to maintain alignment during insertion and retraction cycles, as the sensor remains in a fixed position relative to the optical path.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enhances image sharpness, sensitivity, and mechanical stability by reducing optical aberrations and reflections, simplifying the optical design, and minimizing the impact of air-vacuum forces, while maintaining the integrity of the vacuum system and x-ray shielding.
Implementation Method 1
a scintillator, at least one lens, and a mirror, such that at least the CCD and scintillator are housed in the vacuum chamber of the electron microscope
Implementation Method 2
lens-coupled electron microscope camera... at least one lens... such that at least the CCD and scintillator are housed in the vacuum chamber
Implementation Method 3
a scintillator, at least one lens, and a mirror, such that at least the CCD and scintillator are housed in the vacuum chamber
Data Source
AI summary
A lens-coupled camera for an electron microscope is disclosed. The camera includes a CCD, a scintillator, at least one lens, and a mirror, such that at least the CCD and scintillator are housed in the vacuum chamber of the electron microscope, which has only one vacuum chamber. In a further embodiment, the CCD, scintillator, lens and mirror are affixed to a fixed mechanical linkage such that the CCD, scintillator, lens and mirror move together when the camera is retracted.