トライポットポリッシャ

tripot polisher

マイクロメータの付いた3本の足と試料支持用の足からなる試料の機械的研磨用の道具。バルク試料をセットしマイクロメータで削る角度を微調整し、回転研磨機に乗せて手で支えて試料を研磨する。バルク試料(～3mm×～3mm×～2mm厚）から直接厚さ～10ミクロンの試料が作れる。研磨剤としては30ミクロン～0.1ミクロンのダイヤモンドを塗布したラッピングフィルムで順次研磨し、最終段階でコロイダルシリカで鏡面仕上げをする。電顕観察が容易なように、研磨の途中から楔状に研磨する。最後はイオンミリングで薄くする。広い面積に亘る楔形の試料が作れるので、特に断面観察用の試料作製に適している。

"Tripot polisher" is a mechanical polishing device that consists of three legs with micrometers and a leg for supporting a specimen. First, a bulk specimen is set on the leg for the specimen, and the polishing angle is finely adjusted by the micrometers, the tripot polisher is mounted on a rotational polishing device, and then the specimen is polished while the tripot polisher is supported with human fingers. A thinned specimen with a thickness of ～10 μm can be obtained from a bulk specimen (～3 mm × ～3 mm × ～2 mm thick). As a polishing material, lapping film coated with diamond of 0.1 μm to 30 μm is used. In the finishing process, the polished specimen with a mirror surface is fabricated using colloidal silica. For TEM observation, the specimen is usually polished to wedge-shaped. Normally, the specimen is finished by ion milling. Since the use of the tripot polisher enables preparation of a wedge-shaped specimen over a wide area, the device is particularly suitable for cross-sectional specimen preparation.