[labnetwork] Shadow Mask for "Location Grid"

[Mac Hathaway]

Hello Folks,

I have a puzzle (hopefully already solved) that I am working on:

We would like a way to locate regions of interest (ROI) on uneven 
substrates that other collaborators have submitted for various analysis 
techniques, i.e. EDS, FIB, SIMS, etc.

Our thinking was we could project a gold "finder grid" onto uneven 
substrates, which the collaborators could use to define the precise 
location of their ROI before handing samples off to us for analysis.  We 
might even send these out to collaborators beforehand for "pre-marking" 
their samples, to save time.

A "fine grid" shadow mask came to mind, ideally having numbered 
columns/rows, which could be used, in combination with a gold 
evaporator, to create the "finder grid" on the samples of rock, brick, 
pottery shards, etc.

The questions:

Does such a thing exist already?

What is the maximum practical "throw distance" of a shadow mask, such 
that one could position the shadow mask over an uneven substrate 
(peak-to-valley not more than a mm) and still get a reasonably 
continuous and well defined pattern.

What thickness of shadow-mask foil would be reasonably robust? What 
would be reasonable minimum line-widths?

We know about correlated microscopy and the associated registration 
systems, but these would not be viable as our collaborators will not 
typically have these systems available on their preliminary screening 
equipment (optical microscope, electron microprobe, etc)

Note that this grid would not be used for measurement of any kind, only 
for providing a visual reference that could be transmitted via... text 
message, for instance.  As such, grid distortion would be okay, as long 
as the rows/columns could be discerned.

I welcome your thoughts!


Mac
Harvard CNS


-- 

Mac Hathaway

Senior Process and Systems Engineer

Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems

11 Oxford St.

Cambridge, MA02138

617-495-9012
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