Patent ID: 8598524

Claim:
Slider bearing for use with an apparatus comprising a vacuum chamber, the slider bearing comprising: a base plate in contact with the vacuum chamber at one side, said base plate showing a first through-hole in contact with the vacuum chamber; a second plate, one side of the second plate in contact with the base plate, said second plate showing a second through-hole; the faces of the base plate and the second plate facing each other being sufficiently smooth to form a non-elastomeric vacuum seal; said base plate and said second plate slidable between a first relative position in which the first through-hole and the second through-hole do not overlap and a second relative position in which the first through-hole and the second through-hole overlap; and in which the second plate is a flexible plate, the face of the flexible plate opposite to the base plate is equipped to seal against a cup, the cup equipped to hold a sample, and the first through-hole in the base plate having a rim, the rim having a radius that is smaller than the radius of second through-hole, the rim has a curvature that is bent upwards away from the second plate, the curvature of the rim formed such that the vacuum seal between the base plate and the flexible plate forms on a pre-defined contour and that the Hertzian contact pressure is smaller than a pre-determined maximum contact pressure, the pre-determined maximum contact pressure chosen to minimise particle generation.