Smart Grids are micromachined from ultrathin silicon wafers to provide the greatest flexibility in grid geometry and configuration. Smart Grids are currently available in a variety of configurations to meet your characterization needs. If these geometries do not fulfill your requirements, we encourage you to contact us to discuss your custom needs.
Smart Grid Geometry:
Type A: 3 mm octagon grids square windows. These grids are now available with three windows sizes: small- 50x50 μm, medium - 100x100 μm, and large - 150x150 μm. These grids are machined with a single rectangular window that serves as an index mark for reproducible imaging.
Type B: 3 mm octagon grids with 50 μm x 2 mm rectangular windows. These grids provide significantly expanded veiwing areas when compared to our Type A grids. The octagonal grids are our most popular configurations due to their compatibility and familiarity when compared with with existing grid designs.
Type C: Square Grid configuration (3 mm diagonal dimension) with 50 x 50 μm square holes. The square grids offer improved handling and gripping due to the flat sides. A central rectangular window offers the capability for indexing the grids to enable repeat imaging of the same features.
Index markings offer the capability for indexing the grids to enable repeat imaging of the same features.
Type D:Square Grid configuration (3 mm diagonal dimension) with 50 μm x 1.5 mm rectangular holes. These grids offer expanded viewing area when compared to Type C, but with the same convenience for handling and gripping.
The square grids are also available in multi-grid wafer format (as shown for Grid Type D) that allows for parallel processing of multiple grids and permits other processing capabilities such as spin-coating. Each grid can be easily popped out after processing.
Window Options
Smart Grids employ thermally grown SiO2 membrane windows that are available with different membrane thicknesses. Our current line of products includes three basic membrane thicknesses. Our standard window thickness is 40 nm (SG01), but they are also available with no membrane (SG00) and 80 nm SiO2 (SG02) windows. 
The 40 nm windows are the most generally applicable showing excellent image resolution with minimal background. The 80 nm windows are for applications involving heavier elements where durability is valued at a premium. Both the 40 nm and 80 nm thick membrane windows are robust to a variety of chemical and thermal processing treatments provided they are properly handled. The grids with no membrane windows enable the complete elimination of background contributions from the membrane while retaining the capability to functionalize the areas around the aperture created when the membrane is removed.