Calibration & test specimens

Agar Scientific specialises in producing a wide range of specimens specifically for SEM test and calibration where quantification or high resolution results are required.
SEM resolution is tested in terms of a combination of criteria, namely resolved gaps and the number of grey levels in the image. This is to ensure that the resolution has not been distorted by using the contrast to maximise visibility of edges. High resolution images ideally should show fine detail together with a lack of noise, evidenced by a good range of grey levels.
For assessments of resolution in scanning electron microscopes, we have developed a range of gold on carbon and tin on carbon test specimens. These specimens are suitable for tests of SE and BSE imaging and also for chemical mapping in high resolution systems such as in Auger scanning instruments. The specimens can be supplied on most types of specimen stub.

Critical dimension (CD) calibration test specimens - 500-200-100 nm structure
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This advanced CD calibration test specimen is suitable for calibrating smaller structures.
Critical dimension (CD) calibration test specimens - 10-5-2-1-0.5um structure
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This CD calibration test specimen comprises five line patterns, each one clearly identified by its pitch.
Reference specimens for backscattered electron detection systems
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An electron microscope, when equipped with a backscattered electron detector, has the capability to produce images in which the contrast is controlled by differences in atomic number (Z) across the specimen.
Duplex reference specimen
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An alternative and very sensitive test is by means of an alloy with two major copper/zinc phases separated by an atomic number difference of 0.1.

Part no: AGS1953
Chessy test specimen
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The Chessy test specimen comprises more than 1.6 million gold squares on silicon which form a four-fold chequerboard pattern in an area of 5mm square. Overall Size of specimen is 10 mm x 10 mm

Part no: AGS171
Silicon test specimen
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A silicon test specimen made of single crystal silicon of overall dimensions 5 x 5mm and is 0.5mm thick.
Medium resolution aluminium-tungsten dendrites
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The various spacings created by the dendritic structure of this specimen are suitable for performing point resolution tests and the topographical arrangement of the dendrites for a grey level test.

Part no: AGS145
Pelco gold specimen
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This specimen consists of gold platelets with a wide size range and sharp, clearly defined edges, making it useful for determining and correcting astigmatism, and verifying instrument resolution.
Pelco Nanogold resolution test standards for SEM and FESEM
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These unique gold nanoparticles on silicon provide resolution standards with known and uniform particle size, ideally suited for high resolution tests for SEM, FESEM and FIB/SEM systems.
Silica particle size standards 0.5 - 1.6um
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This series of particle size standards is designed for applications requiring monodisperse inorganic spheres.
Glass size standards
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Glass microspheres can be used in any application that requires a NIST traceable size standard with a narrow size distribution, and where sample conditions may not be suitable for polystyrene spheres.
MetroChip calibration standard
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The MetroChip microscope calibration standard provides an extensive range of features for SEM, FIB, AFM, light microscopy and metrology systems calibration.

Part no: AGS1949