Electron microscopy facilities
Manchester School of Materials Electron Microscopy Facilities
The University of Manchester, School of Materials is one of the largest centres in the UK for state of the art for electron microscopy, funded through grants from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research council (BBSRC), the North West Development Agency (NWDA), Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the University of Manchester Strategic Research Infrastructure Fund (SRIF).
The School of Materials aims to operate an internationally leading Electron Microscopy Centre that ensures a balance between advanced research, teaching, service and training. We are committed to securing further national and European funding for research projects and actively encourage additional collaborations with both commercial and academic national and international partners. The Electron Microscopy Centre has been structured to be openly available to academic and industrial users under both collaborative and purchased access arrangements, for public domain dissemination and proprietary agreements respectively.
The large size of Manchester's School of Materials has enabled us to develop a knowledge database covering a wide range of applications and the experience required to deliver cutting edge microscopy data for a diverse spectrum of specimens including composites, biological, metallurgical, paper, textiles, archaeological, paleontological and geological etc. The Electron Microscopy Centre complements the capabilities which already exist within the School such as the Henry Moseley X-ray Imaging centre, the Stress and Damage Characterisation Unit as well as the significant expertise in the use of large-scale research facilities such as neutron and synchrotron radiation sources.
Instruments
The School of Materials has a suite of 20 complementary electron microscopes, comprising 15 scanning electron microscopes (SEMs), two of which are dual beam (an SEM combined with a focussed ion beam, FIB), and four transmission microscopes (TEMs). One of the TEMs is a 300kV "high end" instrument allowing atomic resolution imaging in both scanning (STEM) and broad beam (TEM) modes. It is equipped with energy dispersive X-ray detector (EDS) and Gatan Imaging Filter (GIF) for energy filtered imaging (EFTEM) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). In addition to our dual beam FIBs, we have a new SEMs dedicated to 3D imaging at the nano-scale using x-ray tomography or ultra microtoming. Most of SEMs are field emission gun SEMs, which provide superior resolution than conventional SEMs. They are also equipped with electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), which is a technique widely used in our School.
A comprehensive suite of electron microscopy sample preparation equipment is also available including precision ion polishers (PIPS), dimple grinders, electropolishers and microtomes. The equipment is located on two sites, in the Mill building and in the basement of the Materials Science Centre. The School of Materials Electron Microscopy Centre also has excellent links with the SuperSTEM mid-range facility at Daresbury.
Scanning microscopes are generally used when topographical and surface chemistry information from a sample is required at length scales between a few nanometres and several millimetres. The dual beams are mainly used for three-dimensional characterisation and site-specific TEM sample preparation. In contrast, when structural/compositional information is required at the sub nm level, a TEM is the tool which is used.
NEW! - Coming soon
Following the recent awarding of substantial grants from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the North West Development Agency (NWDA) and the University of Manchester Strategic Research Infrastructure Fund (SRIF), the School of Materials has invested in number of new instruments. These include a state of the art aberration corrected Titan STEM which will be capable of sub-nanometre chemical mapping.