April 1, 2013. The FESEM is back online. I’d like to let it pump overnight and, unless the is some problem, you can start using it tomorrow morning. March 29, 2013. The FESEM is unusable. We have 2 bad vacuum pumps, one of which is a “new, rebuilt” pump Hitachi …
March 27, 2013. The FESEM is down with a failed vacuum pump. Hitachi si sending another that will arrive about lunchtime tomorrow. The new pump should repair the problem. I will keep you informed of progress.
February 20, 2013. The EDS hardware card came back from the repair shop – I installed and calibrated it this afternoon. I tested it for 2 hours – EDS Spectra, SEM Imaging and X-ray Mapping. Everything seems to be working properly. Some of you have been trained to use the …
February 14, 2013. The FE-SEM is back online and we have greater confidence that the image problem is successfully repaired. For those of you who are interested, a transistor that was inadequately connected to the circuit board. The EDS is not operational yet.
February 8, 2013. The board is still in the repair shop. They have fixed one problem and are working on the other now. The background on this situation follows. The company that manufactured this system, 4pi, went out of business. One of the 4pi employees, a product specialist, is repairing …
February 6, 2013. The Hitachi engineers will be here Monday afternoon through Friday morning to check out the strange, intermittent image problem we’ve had. Please plan your work accordingly. Tomorrow afternoon, all day Friday and Monday morning time slots are available.
February 4, 2013. The FESEM is still not working properly. We have to limp by until next week when Hitachi is sending 2 engineers to make the repair. The scope can be used but may give problems. If you see a black screen or a distorted screen try to go to …
May 24, 2013. Last reminder – I will be on vacation next week. Felicia will be in the labs 20 hrs that week so you will be able to get help with the SEM’s and coating. You may not be able to reach me at times during the trip but …
May 23, 2013. Maintenance is tentativley planned for the week of June 10. The SEM will be unavailable for use after 5 on Monday until Friday morning. I’ll let you know if this changes.
May 21, 2013. Hello everyone! If you need sample preparation or SEM imaging help this summer, my hours are below: MWF 1-5PM …
May 15, 2013. I will be on vacation during the week of May 27. Felicia will be in the labs 20 hrs …
May 7, 2013. The cooling water for our building will be off tonight. I’ll be shutting the scopes down at 5 and …
May 5, 2013. Tomorrow I will be away from the office until mid afternoon. May 3, 2013. I’ll be out of the …
May 5, 2013. All the scopes came back up and should be ready for use. Let me know if you have problems. …
April 23, 2013. This is a reminder that I will be on vacation Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week. Felicia will be …
April 18, 2013. I will be out of the office this afternoon and tomorrow. Then, next week I will be out of …
April 12, 2013. One of the carbon coaters is back online. Felicia and I can coat samples for you.