AFM substrates, silicon chip specimen supports, square

Specimen support for SEM, SIMS, AFM.

They are useful as a smooth, inert background is for the determination of resolution and contrast of "in-the-lens" SEMs equipped with high brightness electron emitters. Additionally, conducting specimens, or non-conducting specimens in low vacuum or low voltage SEM, may be viewed without coating.
Si chips are opaque, have low electrical resistance, are very smooth, brittle and hard like glass. Si chips are chemically quite inert. These chips are pre-cleaned, but for tissue and cell culture, additional cleaning and sterilising may be required.
Si-chips are opaque, of low electrical resistance and have surface properties equal to glass (including smoothness). They are also good substrates for growing or mounting cells. Si-chips are precleaned before packaging. Also ideal for imaging small particles due to low background signal.

The wafers are cut into chips measuring 5 x 5mm, 5 x 7mm, 10 x 10mm or 12 x 12mm.

Properties
Orientation <100>
Resistance 1-30Ω
Type P (Boron) if 1 primary flat
No SiO2 top coating
Wafer thickness is 460 - 530µm
Wafer is polished on one side
Roughness: 2nm
Before dicing they are rinsed in de-ionised water for cleaning

Peters, K.R., Working at higher magnifications in scanning electron microscopy with secondary and backscattered electrons on metal coated biological specimens and imaging macromolecular cell membrane structures, 1985 Scanning Electron Microscopy, 1985, IV, 159.
Apkarian, R.P., High-resolution signal detection of specimen-specific secondary electrons in an analytical SEM, "Proc.. 44th Ann. Meeting of the EMSA", 1986, G.W. Bailey, Ed., San Francisco Press, 658.