A High-Vacuum Controller for an Eventual Electron Microscope
Chris Doble is developing a scanning-electron microscope and has created a high-vacuum system as the first step. He designed a custom controller using a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 to manage the electronics of the vacuum system. The setup successfully achieved a pressure of 10-6 millibar during testing.
- ▪Chris Doble is building his own scanning-electron microscope.
- ▪He created a high-vacuum system with a custom controller based on Raspberry Pi Pico 2.
- ▪The vacuum system includes a rotary-vane roughing pump and a turbomolecular high-vacuum pump.
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A High-Vacuum Controller For An Eventual Electron Microscope No comments by: Aaron Beckendorf June 2, 2026 Title: Copy Short Link: Copy [Chris Doble] has high ambitions: he’s making his own scanning-electron microscope, and as the first step he’s built a high-vacuum system. This required its own controller to manage the various electronics involved in the system, which he’s documented and open-sourced. The vacuum system itself starts with a rotary-vane roughing pump, which can bring a chamber down from atmospheric pressure to about 10-3 millibar. This is still too high a pressure, so the second stage is a turbomolecular high-vacuum pump, which can operate from 18 millibar down to 10-7 millibar.
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