Heaters:

1. Linkam Hot Stage Interface and Useful SPEC Macros

How to Use

• To open MEDM window, click "Devices" and "Linkam hot stage" from the main MEDM window(12idb_all.ui).
• Set "Enable" on the right top popup menu.
• Click "Start" will make this software constantly regulating temperature.
• To turn off heating or cooling, click "Stop"

Nomenclature

• Set Rate : Heating or Cooling Rate. A positive number regardless of heating or cooling.
• Set Limit : Target temperature. When the temperature is reached, it will be kept until new value is punched in.

2. VWR Wather Bath / Chiller

• Epics software : 12idb_all.ui > Devices > VWR Chiller

3. digi-Sense controller

• Epics software : 12idb_all.ui > Devices > digi-sense

4. Multi-Sample Heater Python-Based Control GUI 

Multi-Sample Set/Hold Experiment

• Initiation : click a menu from SpecGUI
• Users set temperatures without specifying rate and wait long enough to assume the temperature is reached.

Tables

• It has two tables. One on the left is for sample information such as sample name, positions and wanted exposure time (s). One on the right is for temperature profiles.
• Use the tables to input the information about sample and experiment. You can load from or save to text files.

   

Example for Sample Table

Let's say you mounted three samples in an array in a row.

1. After mounting the stage, align your first sample to the beam.
2. On SPEC, set sth 0 and set sav 0. Then, the position of the first sample will become a reference to other samples.
3. Type in or load the sample information to the left table. Sample Name, X (sth), Y (sav), Exp. Time (s), and Enable (1 or 0). For samples with Enable 0, data will not be taken.
4. Save Sample As or Save.
5. Click "Collect X-ray Data" button below the table and data will be collected for all three samples.

Example for Experiment Table

Let's say you plan to measure the sample at RT, heat up to 100 oC for annealing for 20 mins, and measure data while cooling down from 80 oC with 10 oC step and 10 mins dwelling at each temperature before taking data.

1. Temp : 25, Dwell Time(s) : 0, Run(Yes/No): 1, Sav Shift: 0
2. Temp : 100, Dwell Time(s) : 1200, Run(Yes/No): 0, Sav Shift: 0
3. Temp : 90, Dwell Time(s) : 600, Run(Yes/No): 1, Sav Shift: 0
4. Temp : 80, Dwell Time(s) : 600, Run(Yes/No): 1, Sav Shift: 0
5. ...
6. Temp : 20, Dwell Time(s) : 600, Run(Yes/No): 1, Sav Shift: 0
7. Save Experiment As or Save.
8. Click "Run Experiment" button.

Temp (oC) : Temperature at each step. Dwell time(s) : Time required to reach the temperature + Annealing time that you wish. Run (Yes/No) : Do you want to collect Data for the step. Sav shift : If you would like to shift sample vertically in case you are worried about beam damage, type the number in mm unit.

File Format

Generic text format for the sample list

 # sample name, X, Y, exposure time(s), enable
 mysample1, 0, 10, 0.1, 1

Generic text format for the experiment list

 # temperature, dwell time(s), run(yes/no), sav shift(mm)
 50, 100, 1, 0

STD text format for the sample list

sample position mnemonics: alphabet for the row and numeric for column.

For example, 2a is for the sample at the second column in the first row. Thus, X = 10 and Y = 0.

 # sample position mnemonics, sample name, [exposure time(s)]
 1a, testsample1
 1b, testsample2, 0.1
 2c, testsample3

Temperature Ramping Experiment

• Initiation : click a menu from SpecGUI
• This is for both Linkam and Multi-sample stage.
• Choose the type of heater from 'Heater' menu.

Tables

• When multi-stage is selected, a table for inputting samples info will pop up. See above for how to use.

• Use Heating Stage table for Temperature program

Temp (oC) : Temperature at each step. Rate (oC/min) : Ramping rate for each step. Time(mins) : Time to dwell after the ramping is over. Collection Freq.(s) : How often will you measure data during the dwell time. 0 for no data collection, -1 for only one after the dwell, and any other positive number for seconds of data collection periodicity. Scan Range (mm) : If you want to scan in each collection, type positive number, for example 2 for -2 ~ 2 mm. Otherwise, 0. Scan Dir.(h/v) : Scan direction. Either horizontal (h) or vertical (v). #Scan Points : When you scan, how many points to measure within the scan range. 0 for no scan.

Motor Motion

• If sample may not be homogeneous and you want to scan samples every time when you collect data, use the table for either horizontal and vertical direction.
• When you are sure that your sample is homogeneous across many area of the sample and you are worried about the beam damage, then you can raster the sample, meaning that measuring different spot whenever data is collected. For the following two motors, provide ranges and steps in absolute position. Samples will be moved in sth direction first. When sth position reaches High Limit, the sample will be shifted by step of sav and sth will start from Low Limit. Units are in mm.