The electron microscope facility continues to serve the research and teaching needs of faculty and graduate students in the physical sciences. It operates as a cost center with users from inside the university as well as access to local industry and outside universities. The facility is administered by IMNI with a faculty director (Prof. David Paine), and a full time dedicated research engineer (Anthony McCormick) who maintains the equipment and provides instruction or user assistance on an as-needed basis. The laboratory instrumentation consists of equipment which provides five primary functions:
- (i) Two transmission electron microscopes (JEM 2010-HREM tool and an FEI CM20-analytical tool) for chemical, structural, and crystallographic microstructure analysis,
- (ii) Scanning Electron microscopes (LEO 1530-vp and JEM 845) for microstructural studies of surface relief and morphology and includes crystallographic (EBSD) and chemical (EDS) mapping,
- (iii) a new FEI Helios Dual Beam FIB with an Omniprobe nanomanipulator and autoTEM sample preparation, Nabbity extended lithography package, 3-D EBSD, and accessories for high resolution lithography,
- (iv) Auger/ESCA system VG ESCA Lab II for surface composition, depth profile, and XPS analysis and,
- (v) full sample preparation facilities including optical microscopes, ion mills, and plasma deposition tools. In addition, optical and atomic force microscopes are available in the facility. Funding has been secured for the acquisition of a 200 kV Field Emitter TEM which should be ready for installation by June 2010.
Instrumentation: