Improving a Microscopy Course: Integrating Electron Microscopy with Scanning Probe Microscopy

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Physics (13) With its capability of visualization and manipulation at atomic and molecularlevels, scanning probe microscopy (SPM) has become one of the most importantadvancements in science and technology in the past decade. This project is adapting and integratingSPM into a two-semester Electron Microscopy (EM) course that has been taught at theUniversity of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). The addition of SPM instrumentation tothe course gives students a broader view and experience on the cutting edgemicroscopy technologies. The integration also allows a more efficient approach inteaching the subject, because the course covers a wider range of techniques used inmicroscopy and emphasizes the application of these techniques in various fields. Theimprovement of the course is being achieved by introducing, in addition to the existinghands-on experiments on EM, two verification-type experiments using SPM to visualizeatomic structures on well-defined crystalline surfaces in the first semester. This isfollowed, in the second semester, by three inquiry-based experiments that involve bothSPM and EM. The improved course enhances the interdisciplinary educationin science, mathematics, engineering and technology at UMKC.