It’s important to note that all of the flag plates shown on this page are drawn in the style that is compatible with old-School Scienta Omicron or Ferrovac as these have the widest cross-compatibility. However, SPECS style plates that don’t have the spurs, or the more recent Scienta Omicron style with the smaller spurs are available as versions of all MolecularPrecision sample holders – just specify your preference at the time of ordering.
The gold logo and any samples are for illustrative purposes, but in all seriousness our plates are engraved on the back with the M logo and can also be engraved with a unique identifier to help you keep track of multiple sample plates when you have more than a few in your system at the same time.
General flag plate sample holders
“Traditional flag-plates, but with a few improvements.”
FP1
Just a blank a plate. Available, as all our sample holders are, in 304 stainless steel, molybdenum, titanium, aluminium, copper, and tantalum metals. Also available in PEEK polymer and ceramic. Perfect for building your own plate and for attaching a carbon sticky pad for powder samples. from £POA
FP12
A blank a plate with a raised sample area platform, machined entirely as a single piece. Available with a 1+1 mm platform (or any other thickness on request). Perfect for direct bonding of samples that need to be raised above the plane of the plate (e.g. NanoESCA, PEEM). from £POA
FP15
Designed to accommodate full 10×10 mm samples (and down to 9×2 mm). The sample is clamped to a 1+1 mm thick raised platform with two rigid straps held in place with four M1.4 screws. Sample thickness up to 1.5 mm (due to the length of the screws). The orientation of the straps allows unobstructed grazing beam access in the most common direction. Perfect for gold-on-mica, 10x10x1 mm single crystals, and odd shaped wafers. from £POA
FP16
Designed to accommodate full 10×10 mm samples (and down to 9×2 mm). The sample is clamped to a 1+1 mm thick raised platform with two rigid straps held in place with four M1.4 pillars & nuts . Sample thickness up to 5 mm. Perfect for really thick samples and 10 mm diameter round single crystals. from £POA
Side-loading flag plates
“When you need perfect alignment of the top surface”.
FP5
Designed for 10 x 10 mm wafers up to 1 mm thickness. The sample is inserted from the side and secured in place tight up against the front frame for perfect alignment and electrical contact by 4 grub screws tightened from the back. The hole pattern of the grub screws allows narrower wafers to be mounted and secured using only two grub screws. For very thin samples a shim plate can be mounted between the sample and the grub screws. For different sample thicknesses, the FP5 is available for nominal thicknesses of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mm. Perfect for NanoESCA/PEEM instruments and cross-compatibility with other instruments. from £POA
FP17
Designed for 5 x 10 mm wafers up to 1 mm thickness and down to 5 x 5 mm sizes. The sample is inserted from the side and secured in place tight up against the front frame for perfect alignment and electrical contact by 3 grub screws tightened from the back (1 or 2 for smaller wafers). The hole pattern of the grub screws allows narrower wafers to be mounted and secured using only two grub screws. For very thin samples a shim plate can be mounted between the sample and the grub screws. For different sample thicknesses, the FP5 is available for nominal thicknesses of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mm. Perfect for NanoESCA/PEEM instruments and cross-compatibility with other instruments. from £POA
FP2
Designed for 10 mm diameter round single crystals. In this unique design, the sample is loaded from the open side and secured in place with three M1.6 grub screws from the rear. These plates are specified for particular single crystal thicknesses and have a tolerance of 0.5 mm. So, for example, the 3mm version (shown) can accommodate a sample thickness between 2.6 and 3.1 mm (thinner crystals can be accommodated with shims or requesting the preferred size). Holders for smaller diameters are also available. Machined from a single piece. Perfect for round single crystals in NanoESCA/PEEM instruments. from £POA
FP11
Designed for 10 mm diameter round single crystals. This is a front-loaded sample plate but fits well in this category as it is ideal for applications such as NanoESCA and PEEM where you don’t want protrusions above the sample plane because of the strong electric field and the electron optics. The sample is held in place by the cap frame which has a 9 mm window. The FP11 is available in two versions: a threaded cap that can be removed when you want to change the sample, or an interference fit where the cap is pressed semi-permanently in place using a pellet press or similar tool. Vented to prevent virtual leaks from any trapped volume. Available also in smaller diameters and for any single crystal thickness. Perfect for round single crystals in NanoESCA/PEEM instruments and virtually all other UHV techniques. from £POA
Rear-loading flag style sample plates
“Sample plates that form part of the electron lens assembly – or not”.
FP3
Designed for 10 x 10 mm wafers of thickness up to 1.5 mm. Machined from a single piece. The sample is inserted from the rear of the holder and held in place with a tungsten wire spring clip. Perfect for NanoESCA/PEEM instruments. from £POA
FP14
Designed for 10 x 10 mm wafers of thickness up to 1.5 mm. Machined from a single piece. The sample is inserted from the rear of the holder and held in place with a tungsten wire spring clip. RHEED compatible shallows are machined to allow grazing incidence measurements. Perfect for NanoESCA/PEEM instruments and MBE/RHEED. from £POA
Special-purpose flag style plates
“When Chris comes back from Engineering with a lump of high entropy alloy that looks like a small rock,” and other scenarios.
FP18
Probably the most versatile sample holder in the world. Based on a miniature vice, the FP18 can hold samples of any shape and size up to the jaw opening width of 8 mm. Perfect for rocks. from £POA
FP20
An evaporator on a plate. The FP20 is a flag plate crucible with a threaded cap that has a 1mm aperture in the centre. Simply load with the material that you want to evaporate and use the existing sample heating stage on your manipulator to heat the plate to the evaporation temperature while holding the deposition surface in front using your sample transfer wobble stick. This is not possible in all systems, but in most instruments where the sample is transferred by wobble stick, this is a convenient way to deposit different molecules without the need for a dedicated Knudsen cell or evaporator. Changing molecules is quick and doesn’t require a bake. If you have several of these plates you can keep them loaded for future experiments. By placing the source close to the surface you can localise the deposition to a much smaller area than traditional evaporators. Perfect for depositing molecules by thermal evaporation, using your existing sample heating stage. from £POA