MM3A-EM for Phenom
The MM3A-EM micromanipulator integrated into the Phenom desktop SEM — add a needle, microgripper or force sensor to your benchtop instrument.
A plug-in holder beneath the cap#
Kleindiek mounts the MM3A-EM inside a slightly enlarged version of the Phenom’s specimen holder. The upright arm positions the sample in three dimensions relative to a stationary tool seated in a plug-in holder beneath the holder’s cap — swap in a needle tip for manipulating small objects, a microgripper for pick-and-place, a force sensor for AFM imaging, or a low-leakage probe for electrical measurement.
Give your microscope a hand: use the MM3A-EM to add new capabilities and functionality to your Phenom.
Five millimetres of XY, twelve of Z#
At the sample, the arm delivers 5 mm of effective travel in XY and 12 mm on Z, resolving better than 0.5 nm in XY and below 0.02 nm on Z — enough to position a needle or gripper against a nanoscale target and hold it there without a separate fine stage.
From needle tip to Current Imaging#
Fit the low-leakage probe and the same holder becomes a Current Imaging tool: biasing a device under the beam and mapping the resulting current reveals faults inside nano-sized semiconductor structures, a technique used routinely in failure analysis.
Gallery
Force-sensor tip plug-in and a resulting AFM topography scan. 
Microgripper plug-in and an AFM scan of a patterned surface. 
Swapping a plug-in tool inside the Phenom sample holder. 
Low-leakage probe plug-in and a pick-and-place result imaged in the SEM.
Technical data
Overview
- Length
- 62.1 mm
- Width
- 20.4 mm
- Height
- 25.4 mm
- Weight
- 45 g
- Mounting
- M4 tapped hole
- Material
- Stainless steel, aluminium
Motion
- Operating range A & B
- 240° (5 mm effective XY travel at the sample)
- Operating range C
- 12 mm
- Speed A & B
- up to 10 mm/s
- Speed C
- up to 2 mm/s
- Holding force
- 1 N
- Holding torque
- 3–4 Nmm
- Lift (Y)
- 5 g
Resolution
- Axis A
- 6.5 nrad (0.5 nm)
- Axis B
- 6.5 nrad (0.2 nm)
- Axis C
- < 0.02 nm
Electrical & environment
- Probing current
- 10 nA – 100 mA
- Max. probing voltage
- 100 V
- Signal resistance
- 7.0 Ω
- Temperature range
- 273 K – 353 K
- Temperature range (UHV version)
- 273 K – 393 K
- Temperature range (low-temp version)
- 77 K – 393 K
- Lowest pressure
- 10⁻⁷ mbar
- Lowest pressure (UHV version)
- 2 × 10⁻¹⁰ mbar
Advantages
Integrated into the Phenom
- Built into the Phenom desktop SEM via a slightly enlarged specimen holder
- Upright arm positions samples in three dimensions beneath a stationary plug-in tool
- Needle, microgripper, force-sensor or low-leakage probe tips swap under the holder's cap
- Compact 45 g body, 62 mm long
Sub-nanometre positioning
- 5 mm of effective XY travel and 12 mm on Z at the sample
- Resolution better than 0.5 nm in XY and below 0.02 nm on Z
- Coarse and fine displacement from the same drive, so no separate fine-positioning stage is needed
- 240° of rotation on A and B feeding that 5 mm of XY range
Fast, stable motion
- Up to 10 mm/s on the A and B axes
- Holding torque of 3–4 Nmm keeps a mounted tool from drifting under its own weight
- Compact construction raises resonance frequencies well clear of building vibration
Vacuum and temperature options
- Standard operation to 10⁻⁷ mbar
- UHV version to 2 × 10⁻¹⁰ mbar
- Low-temperature version from 77 K
- Drag-and-drop control software
Talk to an application engineer
Tell us your sample and your microscope — we’ll walk you through the workflow and route you to the right regional team.