<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Hello Ed,<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">We got a Tergeo EM (PIE Scientific) plasma cleaner when our Solarus went down 4 or 5 years ago and we have been very happy with it. It is more affordable and it has been running without fail or repairs ever since.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Patricia</div><div class=""><br class=""><div class="">
<meta charset="UTF-8" class=""><div>_________________________________</div><div>Patricia Grob, Ph.D.<br class="">Research Specialist<br class="">Nogales Lab<br class="">HHMI at UC Berkeley<br class="">Molecular & Cell Biology Department / QB3,<br class="">Stanley Hall #742<br class="">University of California, Berkeley<br class="">Berkeley, CA 94720-3220<br class="">Phone: (510)666-3335<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Fax: (510)666-3336<br class="">E.M. suite B307: (510)666-3339<br class="">URL: <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://cryoem.berkeley.edu__;!!Mih3wA!C7DcZr7wzSTHKwpZuUfXknBo_VK608jMkHM0LJNxPRO0sFyRNtyFeiQhOVGG_ZYiKbC1QD2tjWmplJUuHY_C$" class="">cryoem.berkeley.edu</a><br class=""><a href="mailto:pgrob@berkeley.edu" class="">Email: pgrob@berkeley.edu</a><br class=""><br class=""><br class=""></div>
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<div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Jan 24, 2023, at 2:43 PM, Christopher Winkler <<a href="mailto:microwink@gmail.com" class="">microwink@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class="">Hey Ed,<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">We went through a similar cost benefit analysis of plasma cleaners after our Solarus RF board failed. We went with one of the more basic plasma cleaners partly due to budget, partly due to the simplicity of operation of the more basic units, and partly due to the simplicity of design of the basic units. As you point out, the cost of a "simple" cleaner is 1/4 to 1/3 of the Solarus II. The Solarus was pretty easy to operate and the ability to save recipes is nice, but the more basic plasma cleaners are even simpler--you basically toggle a switch to start or stop the cleaner. There is no ability to save a recipe on our cleaner but we only had a few saved recipes on our Solarus that were routinely used. It's not hard to adjust time and power on the basic units. Most importantly for me, the more basic cleaners forego the TMP for a basic dry scroll pump so there are no diaphragm pumps to rebuild or turbo oil bearings to swap, and there's no painful teardown of the system to access the vacuum systems. The poorer vacuum is fully sufficient to generate a good quality plasma and I've not really seen much of a difference in cleaning performance--the new "simple" model does a good job of cleaning and removing hydrocarbon contamination (we don't use it for glow discharging or treating grid surfaces, so I can't comment on that). </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">A downside of the basic cleaner is that it only uses one process gas at a time, so you cannot switch between argon and oxygen mixtures or hydrogen like the Solarus. This is not a problem for our application but it's something to consider. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Happy to discuss specifics off of the listserv,</div><div class="">Chris</div></div><br class=""><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Jan 24, 2023 at 5:17 PM Egelman, Edward H (ehe2n) <<a href="mailto:egelman@virginia.edu" class="">egelman@virginia.edu</a>> wrote:<br class=""></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div class="msg7018277512538944471">
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<div class="m_7018277512538944471WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal">We have a Gatan Solarus that is failing, and are thinking about replacements. The newer Solarus II is from 5-10 times more expensive than the simplest plasma cleaners out there. Does anyone have any comparisons to justify this very high
price tag?<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">Thanks,<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">Ed<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u class=""></u> <u class=""></u></p>
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<div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;" class="">Edward Egelman<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p>
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<div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;" class="">Harrison Distinguished Professor,<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p>
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<div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;" class="">Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p>
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<div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;" class="">Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics</span><span style="font-size:11pt" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;" class="">University of Virginia</span><span style="font-size:11pt" class=""><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p>
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<div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;" class="">phone: 434-924-8210<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p>
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<div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;" class="">fax: 434-924-5069<u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p>
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<div class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;" class=""><a href="mailto:egelman@virginia.edu" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:blue" class="">egelman@virginia.edu</span></a><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;" class=""><a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://egelmanlab.org/__;!!Mih3wA!E1FbZMjPylp2E_W95tkmjXBa_SrdglqlKHumjIYttQDrp5j2mFygiYldlXjLxNN29KbT4EBRw_E2__08r2FUsiA$" target="_blank" class=""><span style="color:blue" class="">https://egelmanlab.org/</span></a><u class=""></u><u class=""></u></span></p>
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