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Zeiss DSM 962
Our second scanning electron microscope. Nicknamed 'Kevin'. Quick specs:
Maximum acceleration voltage: 30kV
Spot size: 4nm @30kV, SEI
Manufacturing year: 1995 (?)
Detectors: SE, BSE, CL, sample current
Attachments/options: Beam blanker, motorized stage, NORAN EDX
Electronics
The DSM 962's main display is powered by the BIVAS, a separate box interconnected to many of the systems of the DSM itself:
PC Side
The PC side of the BIVAS contains a Piads SBC288, a D3142 MFM hard drive, connected to a FINLUX MD640.350 electroluminescent display.
CPU
The SBC is (presumably, Source) powered by a 12MHz AMD-N80L286.
Harddrive
The harddrive is a NEC 3142 44MB MFM hard drive. In contrast to Source in the DSM's BIOS it must be configured as type 29: 1.024 Cylinders, 8 Heads, 17 Sectors.
SD Card
A BlueSCSI v2 replaces the old Bernoulli Box SCSI device. It is available on the D: drive. When the SD card is ejected, the BlueSCSI v2 does not enumerate on SCSI anymore, so avoid accessing the D: drive then - otherwise you might have to reboot the machine to get it working again.
Displays
The DSM supports up to three displays, the main display (built-in EL display) plus two external displays. Supposedly, the second external display is used by the EDX system (Todo: verify assumption), while the first external display is used to show images to the user (see image above, the screen on top of the DSM is connected as the first external display).
The main display's pinout seems to be the following: Source
Software
The SBC runs a version of DOS 5.0 and a Zeiss/LEO-custom control software. Currently, version 2.3s seems to be installed; however we also possess the installation and boot disks for a version 2.0 and 2.13 (supposedly the DSM was originally shipped with 2.0 and then upgraded in the field later).
- V2.0 (C)92 Carl Zeiss
- V2.13 (C)93 Carl Zeiss
- V2.30 (C)1996 LEO GmbH
Part of the boot up is calling a program called init_sbc that supposedly restores (some of the) SBC's bios settings.
BIOS settings
We replaced the BIOS battery. In case it dies again, you will have to set the BIOS to defaults, then press F1 and change the Diskette drive-0 to 1.4 Mb Fix-disk drive-0 type to 29. Press F2 and let the device boot, some software will then reconfigure the rest of the BIOS accordingly.
Powering on the scope
- Turn on the water chiller and make sure the valves are configured to run a water loop through Kevin (and not Kenji)
- Plug in the main power connector to a power socket
- Turn the key on the console to 'VAC', the system will start evacuating
- If you were at atmosphere before evacuating, the evacuation will time out. Quickly press reset on the vacuum control panel before the system vents fully again. Evacuation will start up again.
- Once the column reaches HV-capable pressure (marked on the bar graph with a piece of tape), an LED will illuminate on the control panel and you can turn on the rest of the system. Rotate the key to the 'ON' position. Watch out for bad hysteresis on the vacuum check, it might take a minute to stabilize.
- Wait for the DOS software to boot.
- Enable high voltage and filament.
- The system should now be operational.