The most popular designs of Silson silicon nitride membranes consist of a single square membrane in a larger square frame with the membrane centrally located within that frame. The maximum membrane size available varies as a function of both membrane size and thickness, whether used with no applied pressure or as a vacuum window.
If a larger window is required than is possible for a given membrane size and thickness then it is possible to form arrays of membranes to produce multi-element windows.
In some cases multi-element windows are also used to compartmentalise samples, with each etch pit behind the separate membranes used to hold different samples.
A very popular design of our multi-element windows consists of a 3 x 3 array of 3.0 mm x 3.0 mm membranes with a 0.5 mm support rib between each adjacent membrane. The overall window size is then 10.0 mm x 10.0 mm with an open area transmission of greater than 80%. This window is usually supplied in a 14.0 mm or 17.5 mm frame and can be further mounted into a metal holder for increased support and ease of handling:
The parameters and dimensions of these multi-element windows can be tailored to meet your requirements, whether that be changing the frame size or thickness, the membrane size or thickness, or the number of membranes in the array. Here are some examples of the different dimensions of multi-element windows that we have manufactured for customers in the past:
A large proportion of multi-element windows are supplied to meet individual customer’s specific designs.