Surface Microscopy and Spectroscopy Facility
Document Actions
|
|
Understanding the surface chemistry and morphology of materials is a very
important aspect of science and technology. In recent years the
fields of materials science, biology, electronics, and pharmaceuticals,
among others, have experienced an impresive increase in the use of
surface techniques. For example, particle size and porosity, which
are particularly important in the pharmaceutical industry for the
characterization of excipients and final formulations are determined
with surface science techniques. In the field of
microelectronics, both morphology and chemical composition are
determined in the nanometer and micrometer range respectively. The Surface Microscopy and Spectroscopy (SMS) Facility is a very popular part of the MCC. The surface spectroscopy equipment includes: a Physical Electronics PHI 660 Scanning Auger Microprobe (SAM), PHI 5600ci X-ray photoelectron (XPS or ESCA) / secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) / ion scattering spectrometry (ISS) , and a Nicolet 750 FT-IR / Nic Plan Microscope (FTIR-MIC). The surface microscopy equipment includes: a JEOL 5800LV scanning electron microscope (SEM) with low vacuum and X-ray fuorescence (EDAX) capabilities; a Digital Instrument Nanoscope IIIA Atomic Force (AFM) and Scanning Tunneling (STM) Microscopes. Some examples of the types of materials routinely analyzed at the SMS Facility are: pharmaceutical solids, active materials, polymers, metallic and semiconductor materials, electronic devices and unknown solids. This facility has the capability of giving services to pharmaceutical, microelectronics, biodevices, catalyst, coating, food and electroplating companies. The information that can be obtained with the surface science tecniques include: micrographs (images) of surfaces from micrometer to nanometer range (SEM, AFM), elemental analysis of surface (SAM, EDAX, ESCA, SIMS), and organic (e.g. functional groups) surface analysis (ESCA, FTIR-MIC, SIMS, SAM). Some of the analyses must be done under vacuum (10-6 to 10-10 torr), while others may be done in air (under atmospheric pressure). The type of material to be analyzed and the information required dictates which techniques can or should be used. |
Last modified
2005-09-20 18:47
TGA resource
