DC Innovation

  • LK-99 Room Temp Superconductor

    The LK-99 Room Temp Superconductor is a really exciting discovery! Imagine a world filled with hoverboards and laptops that don’t get hot. If this is something that can become commonplace there will be so many applications that the world as we know it will be forever changed. Here is more information about the recent discovery:…

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  • Edtech From A DIY Microscope is Great

    Edtech involves using technology for education. A lot of businesses are focusing on VR and other software products, but there is something to be said for real hands on learning! The other day I popped one of these lenses off of an old CD player and held it up to my phone to show some…

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  • Stepper Motor Mount Progress!

    SEO experts say that if you post often, more people will see your site! Haha so I try to post an update along with any progress. I am hoping to turn this into an open source project and have people like you help build this with me! All in due time. Here you can see…

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  • Stepper Mount

    Made some progress on a stepper motor mount today. As I’ve been thinking about this I’ve decided to start by 3D printing the mounts, as the forces involved are fairly low, but i’m also wondering if the tiny amount of flex in the mount could turn into nanometers of drift when trying to take detailed…

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  • High Voltage Supply

    In order to make course scans at higher distances possible, a high bias voltage is needed. Based on the data available in this article: https://web.archive.org/web/20030508182417/http://www.nanoworld.org/museum/young2.pdf 200 volts should allow field emission scanning in a vacuum. I plan to operate in atmosphere, or possibly in mineral oil as described here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/092442479087067S Spice shows the high voltage…

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  • Stage Modeling and Modifications

    The goal of the XYZ stage is to be able to position the STM tip quickly and to enable relatively course scans of the surface topography (for example to choose an area to gather atomic resolution data interactively). As I turned the stage micrometers I noticed that there was a small amount of static friction…

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  • XYZ Stage for Topografiner

    These are the key components to combine for course positioning and scanning. The math says that I should be able to step in increments of 122.6nm! One of the challenges with mounting steppers to micrometers is that the motor has to move along with the micrometer handle, or the shaft coupling needs to allow a…

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