Acquisition of a High Resolution Scanning Electron Microscope for Materials Research at Brigham Young University

该补助金支持杨百翰大学（BYU）收购一台新的环境扫描电子显微镜（ESEM），配备肖特基场发射枪（FEG），用于通过电子背散射图案（EBSP）与能量色散光谱（EDS）耦合的（自动）微衍射的高级应用。所选仪器是Philips XL-30 ESEM FEG，带有集成的EDAX Falcon EDS/EBSP系统。 提高了标准对比度和微衍射模式下的空间分辨率，环境能力有助于检查低Z和非导电样品以及敏感生物样品，并能够以全自动模式集成EDS和EBSP分析（通过数字界面进行反馈控制扫描）用于晶界和界面的研究，是工程与技术学院、生物与农业学院以及物理与数学科学学院正在进行的研究所迫切需要的拟议系统的一些特征。 该仪器的数字和环境能力也将推进杨百翰大学的教育计划，使能够接触到需要高分辨率成像的结构的本科生数量数量级增加。这笔赠款支持为其电子光学实验室购买先进的扫描电子显微镜。 这一新系统被配置用于材料的高分辨率成像，包括敏感的生物样品和非导电材料。 这种能力的广度是由于它的专门室和透镜系统，可以在广泛的环境条件下工作。 新的显微镜还将配备传统的能量色散光谱法进行样品的微观化学分析，并使用低光电视摄像机观察电子背散射衍射图案进行微观衍射（用于微晶取向和相位测定）。新仪器具有数字接口，能够提供晶体材料中晶界网络和其他内部界面的全自动研究。 该仪器的数字和环境能力也将推动杨百翰大学的教育计划，使更多的本科生和研究生能够接触到参加材料和结构高分辨率成像的新见解。

This grant supports the acquisition, by the Brigham Young University (BYU), of a new environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) with a Schottky field emission gun (FEG), configured for advanced applications of (automated) microdiffraction via electron backscattering patterns (EBSP) coupled with energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS). The selected instrument is the Philips XL-30 ESEM FEG, with an integrated EDAX Falcon EDS/EBSP system. Improved spatial resolution in both standard contrast and microdiffraction modes, environmental capability that facilitates the examination of low-Z and non-conductive samples and in sensitive biological samples, and the capability to integrate EDS and EBSP analysis in a fully-automated mode (feedback-controlled scanning through the digital interface) for studies of grain boundaries and interfaces, are some of the features of the proposed system that are urgently needed for the advancement of on-going research within the Colleges of Engineering and Technology, Biology and Agriculture and Physical and Mathematical Sciences. The digital and environmental capabilities of this instrument will also advance educational initiatives within BYU, enabling an order-of-magnitude increase in the numbers of undergraduates that can be exposed to structures that require high-resolution imaging. This grant supports the purchase of an advanced scanning electron microscope for it's Electron Optics Laboratory. This new system is configured for high resolution imaging of materials, including sensitive biological samples and non-conducting materials. This breadth of capability is due to it's specialized chamber and lens system, which can operate over a wide range of environmental conditions. The new microscope will also be equipped for micro-chemistry analysis of samples by traditional energy dispersive spectrometry, and for microdiffraction (for crystallite orientation and phase determination) using a low-light television camera for viewing electron backscattered diffraction patterns. The new instrument has a digital interface, capable of providing fully automated studies of the network of grain boundaries and other internal interfaces in crystalline materials. The digital and environmental capabilities of the instrument will also advance educational initiatives within BYU, enabling much larger numbers of undergraduate and graduate students to be exposed to the new insights that attend high-resolution imaging of materials and structures.