A Versatile, high-throughput, Analytical Transmission Electron Microscope (VATEM)

电子显微镜使成像和光谱学的分辨率达到并包括原子分辨率，是材料表征的关键工具。空间分辨率最高的是透射式电子显微镜(TEM)，它利用非常薄的样品(纳米或10纳米厚度)来最小化光束扩散。“电子显微镜”一词实际上是指一系列实验技术，包括衍射对比成像、高分辨率电子显微镜(HRTEM)、扫描电子显微镜(STEM)、能量色散X射线能谱(EDX)图谱和电子能量损失谱(EELS)。当前提议的目的是在牛津大学获得一台通用的、高通量的分析型电子显微镜(VATEM)。仪器的目标是，它应该是通用的，因此能够解决最广泛的材料科学问题；它应该是高通量的，最大限度地提供科学；它应该相对容易使用，使研究人员能够体验到瞬变电磁方法的能力，并在该领域发展专业知识。英国长期以来在瞬变电磁方法的开发和应用方面一直处于世界领先地位，在SuperSTEM(达累斯伯里)和ePSIC(钻石光源)以及Rosalind Franklin研究所等世界领先的能力上投入了大量资金，这些能力提供特定的高水平能力。只有在设在大学英才中心的仪器辅助基础设施的情况下，这种设施才是可持续的。这里提出的仪器将构成支持区域和国家研究的基础设施的重要组成部分。VATEM已被指定研究尽可能广泛的样本。该文书将涉及的科学组合在能源储存和转换材料、核能材料和纳米材料等领域得到了体现，但潜在的应用范围远大于此。对于储能、光伏、核能、催化、抗降解和半导体器件应用至关重要的材料都具有纳米级的结构和化学控制的关键性质。透射电子显微镜中的成像和光谱方法可以用来确定结构和化学。然而，也存在一些挑战。许多这样的材料要么对空气敏感，要么对电子束敏感，或者两者兼而有之。MEMS技术的发展进一步允许在包括冷却、加热、气体、厌氧、液体、光学、电气和机械刺激在内的各种环境下进行纳米级结构和成分的测量。该仪器是为应对这些挑战而设计的。VATEM将向国内和国际的研究人员提供，他们能够证明仪器的能力将满足他们的研究需要。

Electron microscopes allow imaging and spectroscopy at resolution up to and including atomic resolution, and are key tools for materials characterisation. The highest spatial resolutions are found in the transmission electron microscope (TEM), which makes use of a very thin samples (nanometres or 10s of nanometres thickness) to minimise beam spreading. The term "TEM", actually refers to a range of experimental techniques, including diffraction contrast imaging, high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), scanning TEM (STEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy mapping and electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS).The aim of the current proposal is to procure a Versatile, high-throughput, Analytical TEM (VATEM) at the University of Oxford. The aim of the instrument is that it should be versatile and therefore able to address the widest possible range of materials science problems; it should be high-throughput maximising the science delivery; and it should be relatively easy to use to enable researchers to experience the capabilities of TEM methods and to develop expertise in the field. It will be accessible to researchers ranging from undergraduates performing research projects to experienced academics.The UK has long been a world-leader in TEM method development and application, with substantial investment in world-leading capabilities such as those at SuperSTEM (Daresbury) and ePSIC (Diamond Light Source) and the Rosalind Franklin Institute which provide specific, high-level capabilities. Such facilities are only sustainable with a supporting infrastructure of instruments located at university centres of excellence. The instrument proposed here will form an important part of that infrastructure supporting regional and national research.The VATEM has been specified to study the widest possible range of samples. The portfolio of science that the instrument will address is exemplified in this proposal in the fields of materials for energy storage and conversion, materials for nuclear energy and nanomaterials, but the potential breadth of application is much greater than this. Materials critical for applications in energy storage, photovoltaic, nuclear, catalytic, degradation resistant and semiconductor devices all have key properties controlled by their structure and chemistry at the nanoscale. The imaging and spectroscopy methods available in a TEM can be used to determine structure and chemistry. There are, however, a number of challenges. Many such materials are either air-sensitive, electron-beam sensitive, or both. Developments in MEMS technology further allows nanoscale structure and composition measurements under a variety of environments including cooling, heating, gases, anaerobic, liquids, optical, electrical and mechanical stimuli. The instrument has been designed to address these challenges.The VATEM will be available researchers national and internationally who can demonstrate that the instruments capability will be meet a need in their research.