MRI: Acquisition of an Analytical Scanning Electron Microscope for an Interdisciplinary Multi-user Facility

技术摘要三一学院的跨学科多用户电子显微镜设施正在寻求资金，以获得一台现代分析变压扫描电子显微镜（SEM），作为跨科学材料和生命科学标本成像和元素分析的关键研究工具。所要求的SEM将在三一学院发挥重要和互补的作用。现有的电子显微镜设备，目前包括两台透射电子显微镜（包括一台分析TEM/(s)TEM），各种样品制备工具，以及一台功能减弱的24年故障扫描电镜。新的SEM将为来自不同领域的研究人员提供服务，包括研究胎生爬行动物的胎盘形态（生物学），湖泊沉积物中的微颗粒（环境科学），考古文物（化学和经典），纳米线表征（物理学）和软凝聚态物质（工程学）。所要求的具有x射线能量色散光谱和微x射线荧光的变压扫描电镜将满足三一学院科学研究和教学的需要，并促进更多的科学原理和先进的科学仪器向更多的教师、学生和合作者展示。它将被科学和其他学科的教师和本科生用于研究和研究培训。它将通过为每个科学部门或项目量身定制的本科课程和实验室模块以及将本科生纳入教师研究来支持教育。该仪器的易用性和广泛的分析能力将能够检查从地质样品到生物组织，从考古文物到制造的纳米线和泡沫的标本，在成像和分析应用中具有高度的空间分辨率。它将支持更多的用户和类型的科学调查，由三一学院在生物学、环境科学、化学、神经科学、工程和物理方面的研究人员，由邻近机构的合作者，以及包括本科生和研究生、高中和文法学校的学生和他们的老师在内的已建立的推广项目。三一学院的跨学科多用户电子显微镜设施正在寻求资金，以获得一台现代分析变压扫描电子显微镜（SEM），作为跨科学材料和生命科学标本成像和元素分析的关键研究工具。所要求的SEM将满足三一学院科学研究和教学的需求，并为更多的教师、学生和合作者提供更多的科学原理和先进的科学仪器。这种扫描电镜是一种先进的科学工具，它可以对太小的结构进行高分辨率成像，这些结构无法用肉眼甚至光学显微镜观察到。各种检测器使各种样品类型的复杂和互补成分分析成为可能。使用该工具收集的见解可以更好地理解材料。在涉及生物学（如细胞和器官、昆虫、植物、细菌）、物理科学（如陶瓷、半导体、塑料、岩石）和环境科学（如沉积物、大气污染物和地质历史）的研究中，在纳米水平上的结构/功能关系。将SEM整合到研究和学分大学课程中，可以使科学学科和人文学科的学生了解先进科学仪器的理论基础和应用，包括适当的科学数据收集和分析以及研究结果的展示。

Technical abstractThe interdisciplinary multi-user Electron Microscopy Facility at Trinity College seeks funds to acquire a modern analytical variable-pressure Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to serve as a critical research tool for imaging and elemental analysis of materials and life science specimens from across the sciences. The requested SEM will play an important and complementary role in Trinity?s existing EM Facility which currently comprises two Transmission Electron Microscopes including an analytical TEM/(S)TEM, a wide range of specimen preparation tools, and a failing 24-year-old SEM with diminished functionality. The new SEM will serve researchers from diverse fields working on projects that include the study of placental morphology in viviparous reptiles (Biology), microparticulates in lake sediments (Environmental Science), archeological artifacts (Chemistry and Classics), nanowire characterization (Physics), and soft condensed matter (Engineering).The requested variable-pressure SEM with X-ray Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy and Micro X-ray Fluorescence will meet the research and pedagogical needs of the sciences at Trinity and facilitate greater exposure of scientific principles and advanced scientific instrumentation to more faculty, students and collaborators. It will be used by faculty and undergraduates in the sciences and in other disciplines for research and research training. It will support education by its use in undergraduate courses and laboratory modules tailored to each science department or program and the inclusion of undergraduates in faculty research. The ease of use and broad analytical capabilities of this instrument will enable examination of specimens ranging from geological samples to biological tissues, from archeological artifacts to fabricated nanowires and foams, with a high degree of spatial resolution in both imaging and analytical applications. It will support increased numbers of users and types of scientific investigation by Trinity researchers in Biology, Environmental Science, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Engineering and Physics, by collaborators in neighboring institutions, and in established outreach programs that include undergraduate and graduate students as well as high school and grammar school students and their teachers.Non-technical abstractThe interdisciplinary multi-user Electron Microscopy Facility at Trinity College seeks funds to acquire a modern analytical variable-pressure Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to serve as a critical research tool for imaging and elemental analysis of materials and life science specimens from across the sciences.The requested SEM will meet the research and pedagogical needs of the sciences at Trinity and facilitate greater exposure of scientific principles and advanced scientific instrumentation to more faculty, students and collaborators. This SEM is an advanced scientific tool which enables high-resolution imaging of structures far too small to be visualized by the unaided eye or even with a light microscope. Various detectors make possible complex and complementary compositional analysis of a wide range of sample types. Insights gathered with this instrument result in a better understanding of a material?s structural/functional relationships at the nano-level in studies involving biology (such as cells and organs, insects, plants, bacteria), the physical sciences (such as ceramics, semiconductors, plastics, rocks) and environmental science (such as sediments, atmospheric pollutants, and geologic history). Incorporating the SEM into both research and credited college courses exposes students across scientific disciplines and the humanities to the theoretical basis and applications of advanced scientific instrumentation, including proper scientific data collection and analysis and the presentation of research results.