Acquisition of an Aberration Corrected Analytical Electron Microscope for Nanocharacterization of Materials

获取用于材料纳米表征的像差校正分析电子显微镜

• 批准号: 0320906
• 负责人: Christopher Kiely
• 金额: $ 59万
• 依托单位: Lehigh University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-08-01 至 2006-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0320906&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Acquisition; Aberration; Corrected; Analytical; Electron

This grant supports the acquisition of an aberration corrected Analytical Electron Microscope (AEM) for the characterization of materials at the nanometer scale at Lehigh University. The ability to locate and simultaneously identify the nature of the atoms in crystalline materials is one goal of researchers involved in the characterization of materials. This goal is now achievable in the Analytical Electron Microscope (AEM) because of the recent successful commercial development of spherical aberration (Cs) correctors. A Cs-corrector permits the refinement of the electron probe dimensions to the atomic level while increasing the amount of current in the probe, thus increasing the quality of all the signals generated and detected in the Cs corrected AEM. Calculations and recent experiments confirm that the Cs corrector will improve all present performance metrics by 2-10 times, thus creating a truly unique instrument. The Lehigh instrument will complement other national and international projects employing Cs-corrected instruments that emphasize high-resolution imaging and in-situ experiments rather than analytical techniques. The research performed on the new instrument will offer new insights into the nature of nanometer-level interfacial segregation that controls the brittle failure of materials, the enhancement of mechanical properties in ceramics, the behavior of microelectronic devices and the creation of passive oxide layers on steels. The elucidation of the chemistry of sub-nanometer catalyst particles used for nitrous oxide reduction, oxidation of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide, and environmental remediation of groundwater will be enhanced. Even beam sensitive polymers have proven amenable to X-ray mapping in the AEM, and the Cs-corrector will permit quantitative measurements of the microstructure and nano-scale chemistry of ion containing polymers. Lehigh's electron microscope laboratory and the AEM in particular already act as a center for researchers from a wide range of industries and universities. Lehigh also serves as a center for microscopy education and training, for thousands of researchers, technicians and engineers from industrial and governmental research labs, through its annual Microscopy School. The Cs-corrected AEM will be the only Cs-corrected instrument available for such broad-based instruction and training and will be integrated into ongoing courses on AEM and Characterization of Nanostructures. The research enabled by the Cs-corrected instrument will be infused into the learning experience of graduate and senior undergraduate students at Lehigh via a new course, 'Materials for Nanotechnology.' This course is also available to students and researchers at other universities, via an interactive, multi-institutional learning initiative accessible via real-time video/audio/internet connections to graduate students in similarly equipped classrooms at the University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie-Mellon University, Drexel University, the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State University. Other schools have expressed interest in participating in this program via Internet2 video-conferencing, including several universities strong in under-represented groups such as Florida A&M, Howard, Prairie View A&M, Savannah State and Southern University.

这笔赠款支持利哈伊大学购买一台用于纳米尺度材料表征的像差校正分析电子显微镜(AEM)。能够定位并同时识别晶体材料中原子的性质是参与材料表征的研究人员的目标之一。这一目标现在可以在分析电子显微镜(AEM)中实现，因为最近成功地开发了球差(Cs)校正器。Cs校正器允许将电子探针的尺寸细化到原子级别，同时增加探针中的电流量，从而提高Cs校正的AEM中产生和检测的所有信号的质量。计算和最近的实验证实，Cs校正器将把目前所有的性能指标提高2-10倍，从而创造出一种真正独特的仪器。利哈伊仪器将补充使用Cs校正仪器的其他国家和国际项目，这些仪器强调高分辨率成像和现场实验，而不是分析技术。在新仪器上进行的研究将为控制材料脆性破坏的纳米级界面偏析的性质、陶瓷机械性能的提高、微电子器件的行为以及钢铁上被动氧化层的形成提供新的见解。将加强对用于一氧化二氮还原、一氧化碳氧化为二氧化碳和地下水环境修复的亚纳米催化剂颗粒化学的阐明。即使是束敏感聚合物也已被证明可以在AEM中进行X射线测绘，Cs校正器将允许对含离子聚合物的微观结构和纳米级化学进行定量测量。利哈伊的电子显微镜实验室，特别是AEM，已经成为来自广泛行业和大学的研究人员的中心。利哈伊还通过其一年一度的显微镜学校，为来自工业和政府研究实验室的数千名研究人员、技术人员和工程师提供显微镜教育和培训中心。经Cs校正的AEM将是唯一可用于这种基础广泛的教学和培训的经Cs校正的仪器，并将被纳入正在进行的AEM和纳米结构表征课程。这项由Cs校正仪器实现的研究将通过一门名为《纳米技术材料》的新课程，融入利哈伊大学研究生和大四本科生的学习经历中。其他大学的学生和研究人员也可以通过互动的多机构学习计划，通过实时视频/音频/互联网连接，在宾夕法尼亚大学、卡内基梅隆大学、德雷塞尔大学、匹兹堡大学和宾夕法尼亚州立大学的类似教室里访问研究生。其他学校也表达了通过Internet2视频会议参与该项目的兴趣，包括佛罗里达农工大学、霍华德大学、普莱里维尤农工大学、萨凡纳州立大学和南方大学等几所实力雄厚的大学。