Mounting an individual submicrometer sized single crystal

We developed a new micro manipulator for mounting individual sub-micrometer sized single crystals within a scanning electron microscope. The translations are realized via a commercially available piezomicroscope, adapted for high vacuum usage and realize nanometer resolution. With this novel instrument it is routinely possible to mount individual single crystals with sizes down to 0.1 mu m. In addition, the full range of SEM techniques is available to accurately characterize the size and composition of the sample. As a first example we present the mounting of a single crystal of 30 . 10(-3) mu m(3) volume.