Ion Beam Workstations for preparing highest quality (S)TEM / FIB samples   The Gentle Mills’ exclusive capability of producing damage-free samples at low-energy ion bombardment provides unique opportunity to study the real nanostructures in synthesized and natural materials in all fields of technical sciences and materials research.  Fast, reliable and easy-to-use  For cleaning, improving and postprocessing of TEM and FIB samples  Manual (IV5) or automated (IV8) version available  Built-in PC with user-friendly graphical interface   Low-Energy Ion Mills for Final Polishing Technoorg’s Gentle Mill™ "Ion Beam Workstation" series has been designed for final polishing, easy cleaning and improving of samples previously treated in standard high- energy ion mills or FIB columns. Gentle Mill models are recommended to users who want to prepare artifact-free and almost damage-free XTEM, HRTEM or STEM samples of the best possible quality. The Gentle Mill™ ion beam workstations operate with an outstanding patented hot-cathode low-energy ion source. The extremely low energy of the ion beam guarantees minimization of surface damage and ion beam induced amorphization. The exceptional construction of the ion source allows high ion beam current densities. All ion gun parameters including accelerating voltage and cathode current are controlled automatically by a digital feedback loop, but they can always be changed manually during the sample preparation procedure. The initial values of the ion source parameters are set either automatically or manually and are continuously displayed on the computer screen.   The ion mills operating in the 150-2000 eV energy range are suitable for thinning of dimpled or mechanically polished thin (≤25µm) planar samples at ion energies ranging from 1000 to 2000eV.   Gentle Mill™3 The Gentle Mill™3 represents the third generation of Technoorg’s dedicated low-energy ion beam workstations. With its automated ion source setup, computer-aided gas flow control, easy to use graphical user interface and library of pre-programmed milling recipes. the GM3 offers a truly user-independent, fully automated thinning procedure for high-quality TEM sample preparation. The Gentle Mill™3 has a Color CCD camera for full visual control and milling supervision with manual-zoom video lens of 50-400x magnification range. It has an auto-termination, either by detecting the perforation or monitoring the evolution of surface topography.    model Gentle Mill™ (IV5) Gentle Mill™3 (IV8) settings manual automated (or manual) gas flow control via a needle valve enables manual optimization of the ion source performance motorized needle valve control for automatic, user-independent ion source setup milling parameters manual setting such as angle of beam incidence, speed and the oscillation angle of in-plane sample motion Pre-programmed milling recipes for automatic setting of mechanical milling parameters (manual adjustment also possible) imaging system CCD camera with fixed magnification high-resolution color CCD camera with manual zoom video lens of 50-400x magnification range milling process termination built-in timer function for termination of the milling procedure  optical termination supported by an image analysis module (perforation or surface topography) special sample holders not available  sample holders for  • ion beam slope cutting  • final polishing (EBSD samples) Gentle Mill™3 Special Sample Holders for Final Polishing (EBSD, OIM etc.) and Ion Beam Slope Cutting  specifications Gentle Mill™ (IV5) and Gentle Mill™3 (IV8) ion gun patented "Hot-Cathode Low-Energy Ion Gun" beam energy 150 eV - 2000 eV beam diameter 750 - 1200 µm (FWHM)  beam current 7 - 90 µA milling angle 0° - 45° in 0.1° increments sample mounting Technoorg-designed titanium holder accepting TEM samples of thickness ranging from 40 to 200 µm sample handling load-lock system for fast specimen exchange rotation variable speed from 1 to 6 rpm vacuum system oil-free diaphragm and turbomolecular pumps with combined (Pirani/Penning) vacuum gauge cooling system closed-circuit cooling system and intelligent heat management concept, 1.5 liters of ion-exchanged or distilled water for the closed-circuit cooling system gas supply system Argon 5.0 (99.999%) or other noble gases of 1.4 - 1.7 bar absolute pressure