Name: TEM Electrical Biasing: Flexible Carrier
Brand: Hummingbird Scientific

Expand your in-situ TEM electrical biasing capabilities with a flexible platform that supports both Hummingbird Scientific chips and user-developed devices through custom chip-carrier geometries

Flexible In-Situ TEM Electrical Biasing Platform

The Hummingbird Scientific TEM Electrical Biasing: Flexible Carrier Sample Holder is a versatile platform for in-situ TEM electrical biasing that combines eight electrical contacts with an interchangeable chip-carrier architecture. Compatible with Hummingbird Scientific electrical biasing chips, user-developed chips, and custom devices, the platform enables researchers to electrically stimulate and characterize a wide range of samples without being limited to a single chip format or device geometry.

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Enabling Advanced Materials and Device Characterization

The holder supports real-time investigation of electrically driven structural, chemical, and functional changes by combining electrical biasing with TEM imaging, EDS, and EELS. It is well suited for studies of nanoelectronic devices, semiconductors, battery materials, low-dimensional materials, quantum materials, MEMS devices, and other electrically active materials, enabling direct correlation of device operation with nanoscale material behavior.

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Built for Experimental Flexibility

As research objectives evolve, new sample designs and device architectures often require different electrical interfaces and mounting approaches. The interchangeable carrier architecture allows laboratories to support multiple chip geometries, user-developed devices, and application-specific sample designs on a single platform, reducing the need for dedicated holders while providing the flexibility to adapt to new electrical characterization workflows and future research directions.

TEM Electrical Biasing: Flexible Carrier Sample Holder

Hummingbird Advantages:

Supports all Hummingbird Scientific electrical biasing MEMS chips.
Accommodates user-developed chips, custom devices, and specialized sample geometries with a flexible chip-carrier architecture.
Perform flexible electrical measurements and device characterization with 8 independent electrical contacts.
Improve sensitive electrical measurements with individually shielded wiring that minimizes electrical noise.
Correlate electrical behavior with TEM imaging, EDS, and EELS in a single experiment.
Choose from multiple chip geometries and materials manufactured through Hummingbird Scientific's in-house microfabrication facility.
Extend experimental capabilities with custom carrier and MEMS chip development tailored to your research needs.

Technical Specs

1600 Series

Tilt Range

±45° depending on microscope and pole piece

Number of Electrical Contacts

8

Contact Type

Flexible wirebond contacts or fixed spring contact

Carrier

Removable sample carrier

Carrier Compatibility

Any standard TEM sample supports or customer developed substrates

Sample Size

Fits up to 4 mm x 10 mm samples

Wiring

Low-noise shielded wiring

Available For:

How it Works

Hummingbird Scientific electrical biasing chips, user-developed chips, and custom devices are wire bonded to interchangeable chip carriers before being inserted into the holder tip. Spring-loaded electrical contacts automatically establish reliable electrical connections, while individually shielded wiring minimizes electrical noise to support sensitive electrical measurements and repeatable experimental performance.

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During in-situ TEM experiments, electrical stimuli are applied while structural, morphological, and chemical changes are observed using conventional TEM imaging together with analytical techniques such as EDS and EELS. The platform supports a broad range of electrical characterization workflows, from routine device testing to advanced operando materials research.

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The interchangeable carrier architecture enables new chip designs, custom devices, and specialized sample geometries to be accommodated without changing the overall experimental platform. This flexible approach allows experimental capabilities to expand as research priorities, device architectures, and electrical characterization requirements evolve.

Key Features and Capabilities

Built for Diverse Research Applications

Battery Materials

Directly visualize battery cycling, ion transport, dendrite formation, interface evolution, and structural changes.

Charge-Discharge Cycling

Electrochemistry

Study electrodeposition, electrocatalysis, corrosion mechanisms, and electrochemical interface evolution.

Cyclic Voltammetry (CV)

Linear Sweep Voltammetry (LSV)

Chronoamperometry (CA)

Chronopotentiometry (CP)

Electrochemical Impedance (EIS)

Electronics

Study electrical switching, device reliability, and defect evolution in electronic devices and materials.

Low Dimensional Materials

Study growth, electrochemistry, and structural evolution in 2D materials, nanowires, and quantum dots.

2D Materials Growth

Ion Intercalation

Defect Evolution

Phase Transformations

Surface Chemistry

Featured Research

a,f) FIB lamellae schematic and TEM image of stack A: HfO₂/Al₂O₃/HfO₂ and stack B: Al₂O₃/HfO₂/Al₂O₃. b,g) Sketches of stacks A and B. c,h) TEM images layers of the nanocapacitors A and B. d,i) Phase maps of projected electric potential obtained by electron holography for nanocapacitors A and B with an applied bias of +6 V. e,j) Phase maps for nanocapacitors A and B with an applied bias of -6 V. Scale bars are 20 nm in (c) and (h).

Operando electron holography of trapped charges in multilayer HfO₂–Al₂O₃ nanocapacitors

The Hummingbird Scientific TEM Electrical Biasing: Flexible Carrier sample holder enabled operando off-axis electron holography of multilayer HfO₂/Al₂O₃ nanocapacitors during electrical biasing. Focused-ion beam lamellae supporting HfO₂/Al₂O₃/HfO₂ and Al₂O₃/HfO₂/Al₂O₃ stacks were mounted across biasing microchip contacts, allowing electrostatic potential mapping at sub-nanometer spatial resolution while voltage was applied. The measurements directly quantified trapped charges at both dielectric/dielectric and metal/dielectric interfaces and revealed how these charges modify local electric field distributions within the devices. Operando holography demonstrated, for the first time, a linear relationship between interfacial trapped charge density and applied bias, providing new insight into the behavior of nanoscale electronic and memory devices.

Reference: Leifeng Zhang, et al. Advanced Materials (2025). DOI: 10.1002/adma.202413691

Abstract

Video Spotlight

Spectrum image of well-developed SEI. ADF STEM image (top) is acquired simultaneously with the spectrum image (middle). The scanning dotted line on the spectra plot (bottom) indicates the 50 meV energy slice shown in the EELS image.

Operando EELS spectral imaging of the solid-electrolyte interphase in lithium-ion batteries

The Hummingbird Scientific TEM Electrical Biasing Flexible Carrier sample holder enabled operando STEM-EELS spectral imaging of the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) formed on graphite during lithium-ion battery cycling. The video highlights the active pixels of a fully developed SEI along at each 50 meV energy slice of the EELS spectral domain, mapping the chemical composition varies across dendrites, lithium-rich regions, lithium hydride deposits, and the surrounding SEI. The video highlights chemical transformations at liquid-solid interfaces during operando electrochemical biasing and in-situ spectroscopic mapping, revealing the multi-phase and heterogeneous chemical structure of the SEI with operando spectral imaging of a functioning battery environment.

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Hummingbird Advantages

Cell construction, battery cycling and SEI formation all without exposure to air
Flexibly compatible with a wide variety of devices including DIY-battery microcells
Versatile chips with a variety of electrode geometries optimized for battery cell construction
Liquid thickness and sample stability suitable for EELS acquisition

Reference: Jared J. Lodico, et al. Science Advances (2023). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adg5135

Abstract

High Impact Publications

The TEM Electrical Biasing: Flexible Carrier Sample Holder has supported numerous peer-reviewed publications investigating electrically driven material behavior and device performance using in-situ TEM. These studies span semiconductor devices, low-dimensional materials, battery materials, nanoelectronics, MEMS devices, and other electrically active materials, demonstrating how simultaneous electrical biasing and TEM characterization provide direct insight into dynamic structural, chemical, and functional changes under operating conditions.

Towards nanoreliability of sensors incorporating interfaces between single-walled carbon nanotubes and metals: molecular dynamics simulations and in situ experiments using electron microscopy

Steffen Hartmann, Sascha Hermann, Jens Bonitz, Marc Heggen, Ole Hölck, Alexey Shaporin, Jan Mehner, Stefan E. Schulz, Thomas Gessner, Bernhard Wunderle

Mechatronics

2016

Abstract

Quantifying and observing viscoplasticity at the nanoscale: highly localized deformation mechanisms in ultrathin nanocrystalline gold films

Ehsan Hosseinian, Marc Legros, Olivier N. Pierron

Nanoscale

2016

Abstract

Towards nanoreliability of CNT-based sensor applications: Investigations of CNT-metal interfaces combining molecular dynamics simulations, advanced in situ experiments and analytics

Steffen Hartmann; Alexey Shaporin; Sascha Hermann; Jens Bonitz; Marc Heggen; Peter Meszmer; Heinz Sturm; Ole Holck; Thomas Blaudeck; Stefan E. Schulz; Jan Mehner; Thomas Gessner; Bernhard Wunderle

16th International Conference on Thermal, Mechanical and Multi-Physics Simulation and Experiments in Microelectronics and Microsystems

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2015

Abstract

Nanoscale temperature mapping in operating microelectronic devices

Matthew Mecklenburg, William A. Hubbard, E.R. White, Rohan Dhall, Stephen B.Cronin, Shaul Aloni, B.C. Regan

Science

2015

Abstract

Browse All Publications

Built on Engineering Excellence

Hummingbird Scientific designs, machines, assembles, tests, and services its products in-house. Our integrated in-house engineering, precision manufacturing, microfabrication, software development, applications, and service teams enable rapid prototyping and iteration, custom modifications, and direct technical support throughout the life of the instrument.

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The TEM Electrical Biasing: Flexible Carrier Sample Holder combines precision holder mechanics with a flexible carrier architecture that accommodates standard Hummingbird Scientific electrical biasing chips as well as user-developed chips and custom devices. Multiple carrier geometries can be developed to support specialized sample layouts, electrical contact schemes, and emerging device architectures, providing the flexibility to adapt the platform to evolving research requirements.

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Need something unique? Our engineers can customize existing products or develop new solutions to support specialized MEMS chip designs, electrical configurations, sample geometries, and emerging research challenges.

Engineering Process Custom Solutions