General Information

Serial #

180301

Part Number

1

Total Parts

9

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Grey-green colour metal cabinet has black colour frame; light grey colour synthetic [arborite ?] tabletop; main control panel has dark grey faceplate, with black and white synthetic knobs, switches, etc. and clear synthetic viewing windows. Optical column: medium brown colour metal base; bright yellow colour metal tower has silver metal trim and fittings; area ringed by black synthetic [? or rubber ?] band. Electrical cords, cables, etc. have synthetic [? or rubber ?] coverings, and variety of metal and/or synthetic couplings, plugs, etc. Black wood & synthetic, and silver metal Polaroid film holder on lower right front of cabinet. Dark green metal "high voltage" box attached to .1 via cables . Presumably contains glass optical components.

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

162.5 cm

Width

75.5 cm

Height

69.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Chemistry

Category

Laboratory equipment

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Semco

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

City

Ottawa

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

Period

Possibly used c. 1978-80 until 1989.

Canada

Designed at Communication Research Centre in Ottawa and built by SEMCO at NRC's Montreal Rd. campus under an industry/ government partnership- one of the first such partnerships. The company lasted approx. 4-5 years, but collapsed due to poor management. It was taken over successively by other companies. [Ref. 1]

Function

To image specimens down to the sub-micro level.

Technical

The very first SEMCO e-M, the so-called small column e-M, went to Carleton but it was discarded and destroyed when no longer required. The artifact offered was one of the very early ones (apx. first 6?). The CRC scientists improved the electronics and thereby improved the resolution. One advancement was the addition of high precision micrometers to position the sample without the need to open the chamber and thereby break the vacuum. Possible participants in the development along with Mr. Bingham included Dr. John Cox and Peter Sewell (not clear about this -- may only know about it's development). The source is a standard tungsten filament (max. Resolution 70 Å with an optional LaB6 (lanthanum hexaboride cathode) source (max. Resolution 50 Å). The electron gun was continuously variable from 1-3 kV and with compensated voltages available at 5, 15 and 30 kV. Typical operating voltages were 5 kV to 15 kV with magnifications from 25 x up to 300,000 x possible. The detector was a P47 phosphor scintillator disc. A RCA spare 4517 PMT is included. [4517 is a 1.5" dia. 10-stage end-on photomultiplier tube with a transient time of 2.3ns and gain of 7x10-5. It also has lo dark current.] The 6-port specimen chamber has max. 230 mm stage access and 6.5 l volume. The specimen stage was adjustable externally via precision micrometers with max. 25 mm X-Y travel and 35 mm in Z. Max. specimen size depended on tilt but could be up to 76 mm in fixed tilt mode and 50 x 25 mm in tilt and rotate mode. Images could be displayed on a CCTV or captured on Polaroid film via the camera back on the lower right side. Instrument comes with a number of the accessories with the interfaces in the control cabinets on the top of the microscope base. These include (not complete): backscattering electron detector; transmitted electron detector; cathodoluminescence detector; digital scan generator; scan rotate unit; video signal processor; grey level generator; alphanumerics generator; video interface; X-ray calibration specimen, etc. [Ref. 1]

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

All controls, etc. labelled. Components bears decals, labels and stencilled markings with relevant model and parts nos., etc. All significant text includes "SEMCO INSTRUMENTS CO. LTD./ OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA". "SEMCO/ nanolab 7" printed on front of main control panel. Decal on power input casing panel on cabinet back reads "PART NO./ 348100-0000/ MODEL [blank] SERIAL NO. 180301/ NanoLab. 7. S.E.M./ SEMCO INSTRUMENTS CO. LTD./ OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA".

Missing

Unknown.

Finish

Grey-green colour metal cabinet has black colour frame; light grey colour synthetic [arborite ?] tabletop; main control panel has dark grey faceplate, with black and white synthetic knobs, switches, etc. and clear synthetic viewing windows. Optical column: medium brown colour metal base; bright yellow colour metal tower has silver metal trim and fittings; area ringed by black synthetic [? or rubber ?] band. Electrical cords, cables, etc. have synthetic [? or rubber ?] coverings, and variety of metal and/or synthetic couplings, plugs, etc. Black wood & synthetic, and silver metal Polaroid film holder on lower right front of cabinet. Dark green metal "high voltage" box attached to .1 via cables .

Decoration

N/A