In-situ (heating/cooling, traction)
Hot and cold stages allow TEM specimen heating up to 1000°C, and cooling down to approximately liquid nitrogen, temperatures respectively. Heating can, for instance, be used to conduct in-situ studies of thermally-induced phase transformations, such as melting of nanoparticles. Specimen cooling can reduce phonon vibrations that produce incoherent scattering effects in TEM images or CBED patterns, and can sometimes reduce beam damage rates in beam-sensitive materials. Using a traction stage, tensile stresses can be applied to specimens, for example to study dislocation interactions during material deformation. Video tape acquisition of such dynamic processes is possible.