ASH2 Advanced Substrate Holder for Ultramicrotomy - 2nd Generation

The ASH2 is an excellent, affordable tool for array tomography and correlative light and scanning electron microscopy (CLEM) and is capable of handling and pick-up hundreds of sections on one substrate. Sections on a substrate can be directly transferred to the microscope for fast, efficient imaging.

The successor of the ASH 100 directly mounts on the knife stage of the ultramicrotome, it enables the direct collection of (ultra-)thin serial sections from the diamond knife onto a (conductive) substrate, e.g. ITO-coated coverslip, silicon wafer. The substrate can be oriented via three axes.

The ASH 2 Substrate Holder quickly locks onto any RMC PowerTome knife stage converting it to a serial section collection system for SEM and LM 3D reconstruction.

A magnetic mount for easy attachment to Leica EM UC6 and UC7 ultramicrotomes is available (R-ASH2L).

With the ASH 2, flat carrier substrates can be securely fixed and dipped into the trough of a diamond knife with just a few simple steps. Through the 3-axis guidance, the substrate is placed in the water, so that cutting strips can be arranged with an eyelash tool parallel to each other on the waterline. A precise upward movement lifts the substrate out of the water, thereby collecting the section ribbons safely and without wrinkling.

The ASH2 can be used with a variety of standard diamond knives. We recommend the Diatome ultra jumbo knife, which due to the large boat provides a bigger space for manipulation of sections and allows a higher amount of sections for pick-up.

Supplied complete with the following

• Loading station
• Substrate clamp, 36 x 33 x 13 mm
• Wide adhesive mount attachment, 36 x 40 x 13 mm
• Narrow adhesive mount attachment, 30 x 40 x 13 mm
• Water dispenser nozzle with silicon tubing and syringe
• 25 large silicon wafer substrates (25,4 x 25,4mm)
• 25 smaller silicon wafer substrates (10 x 25,4mm) for standard knife boats
• Substrate attachment glue
• Instructional video
• Storage Box