MRI: Acquisition of an electron microprobe for research in Earth sciences, materials science, and applied physics

这笔赠款将用于购买新的电子探针微型分析仪(EPMA)，它将取代老化和故障的仪器，从而极大地增强对地球和材料科学的研究和科学培训至关重要的设施的能力。这种仪器将一束窄电子束聚焦到固体材料的表面，如岩石或矿物、实验产品或电子元件。然后，它分析发射的X射线，并对小至一微米的斑点提供精确的化学分析。还可以制作组成的图像和地图，以可视化在自然和实验室生长的材料中捕获的复杂空间变化，揭示过程和历史的细节。在应用物理和材料科学领域，EPMA将为复杂电子和超导材料、陶瓷以及显示屏和太阳能电池等应用的玻璃的各种研究提供关键和独特的数据。在所有这些领域，大多数研究都是由NSF或其他美国政府机构提供的拨款资助的。EPMA设施将与斯坦福大学的许多其他世界级分析仪器协同工作，如离子探针、电子显微镜和地质年代学实验室。新的EPMA不仅是对大学研究基础设施的重大贡献，也是我们地质与环境科学系至少五名女教员研究的关键，新的EPMA将为本科生、研究生和博士后的科学培训提供绝佳的机会。

This grant will fund the acquisition of a new Electron Probe Micro-Analyzer (EPMA), which will replace an aging and malfunctioning instrument and thus greatly enhance the capabilities of a facility critical to research and scientific training in the Earth and Materials Sciences. This instrument focuses a narrow beam of electrons onto the surface of a solid material such as a rock or mineral, an experimental product, or an electronic component. It then analyzes the emitted X-rays and provides precise chemical analyses on spots as small as one micrometer. Images and maps of composition can also be produced to visualize the complex spatial variations that are captured in both natural and laboratory-grown materials, which reveal details of processes and history. A fully-functioning EPMA with state-of-the-art capabilities will be essential to a wide range of research programs in the Earth sciences, ranging from experimental studies of the minerals of the planet's deep interior, to samples obtained from the mantle and crust that reveal the intricate processes of the growth of continents and ocean basins, to studies of fluid flow in fractures near the surface and chemical weathering. In the fields of Applied Physics and Materials Science, the EPMA will provide critical and unique data for a variety of research on complex electronic and superconducting materials, on ceramics, and on glasses for applications such as display screens and solar cells. In all of these fields, most of the research is funded by grants from NSF or other U.S. government agencies. The EPMA facility will be synergistic with a number of other world-class analytical instruments at Stanford such as ion microprobes, electron microscopes, and geochronology labs. Besides being a major contribution to the research infrastructure of the University, and being key to the research of at least five women faculty in our Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, the new EPMA will provide wonderful opportunities for scientific training of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students.