Electron Microscopy Facility

Characterization Facilities

The Nanocharacterization Laboratory at Lehigh contains the largest electron microscopy laboratory in the U.S., with a suite of 12 scanning, transmission and scanning / transmission instruments. These are well suited for characterizing nanoscale structures and chemistry via an unparalleled range of imaging and analytical methods.

Infrastructure and Support. The Electron Microscopy facility has excellent supporting services to keep the instruments at peak performance and to optimize their use. There are complete specimen preparation facilities including a Gatan PIP's, a plasma cleaner, chemical jet polishers, dimplers, wire saws, diamond cutting wheels and a comprehensive metallographic suite. In addition, there are dark rooms, facilities for digital image acquisition and manipulation, off-line computers for data analysis, and extensive microscopy-related software. Modifications to the instruments can be developed with the aid of a machine shop which is nearby.

The Nanocharacterization Laboratory houses the world's highest resolution X-ray analytical microscope - a unique instrument custom designed for nanoscale analysis and imaging. The center also recently operates a versatile Focused Ion Beam (FIB) instrument for nanomachining.

	Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopes Vacuum Generators HB 603 Vacuum Generators HB 501
	Transmission Electron Microscopes JEOL 2200FS JEOL 2000FX
	Scanning Electron Microscopes FEI XL30 ESEM JEOL 6300F JEOL 6400CL JEOL 733
	Focused Ion Beam Equipment FEI Strata DB 235

The annual Lehigh Microscopy School utilizes many of these instruments and is the largest and longest running course on electron microscopy and analysis. The school now includes the only U.S. course on the "Characterization of Nanostructures". This course is an integrated overview of the different classes of nanostructured materials (quantum structures and devices, nanotubes, nanowires, multilayer, self-assembled materials). It also describes the electron optical tools and techniques currently available to analyze nanomaterial morphology, structure and chemistry.