Introduction

Nano-Tec mica discs and sheets are intended for use with scanning probe microscopy, electron microscopy and thin film applications. The Nano-Tec mica offered is the muscovite sheet type or ruby mica in the highest grade V-1 quality. Selected for its excellent cleavability and lack of inclusions or bubbles. It is transparent or translucent with a shade of ruby to pink. Mica is a natural mineral and is mined from various deposits. The density is 2.7-3g/cm3 with the chemical formula Kal3Si3O10(OH)2. The Nano-Tec mica is sourced from one of the highest quality muscovite sheet mica deposits in India.
To use mica, it must be freshly cleaved to produce a clean substrate. The freshly cleaved surfaces are clean, even and atomically  flat surfaces which are ideal for carbon filming,  AFM substrate and thin film applications.
The standard thickness of the Nano-Tec muscovite mica discs and sheets varies from 0.15-0.21mm and yields multiple thinner sheets (0.02mm)  of freshly cleaved mica. Mica cleaves on the <001> plane. Methods of cleaving can be:

• insert a sharp blade or point into the edge and peel a fresh sheet off
• place double sided tape on the mica and peel off a thin sheet, starting at the edge.

Mica is a dielectric material, stable in water, inert to most acids, alkalis, solvents and oil. Maximum operating temperature is 500-600°C.