Microfabricated liquid chamber utilizing solvent-drying for in-situ TEM imaging of nanoparticle self-assembly

This work presents a microfabricated liquid-sample chamber for real-time TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy) of nanoscale processes driven by liquid evaporation. Previous liquid-microchambers for TEM hold liquid samples in fully-closed (vacuum-tight) micro/nano-scale structures, thus evaporation-driven nanoscale phenomena couldn't be studied. The present work uses intended leakage/failure in bonding and e-beam induced heating in order to generate solvent-drying during TEM imaging, and the captured real-time nanometer-scale movies visualize critical steps in the self-assembly process of 2D nanoparticle arrays including the two-step crystallization process.