services: Quality Assurance
Take advance of our advanced instrumentation and technical expertise to develop quality systems for your processes. We provide quantitative methods to evaluate the statistical variation in material structure and performance, allowing industry leaders to not only understand the ‘what’, but the ‘how’ and ‘why’.
RELEVANT TECHNIQUES:
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (SEM)
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) uses a focused electron probe to scan the surface of a sample. The electrons interact with the surface of the sample to produce a wide range of useful signals that can be used to provide high spatial resolution images, elemental composition, crystallographic information and more. Our instruments are capable of analyzing more traditional hard materials (metals, ceramics, etc.) as well as non-conductive or even hydrated samples by variable pressure/environmental SEM.
Our current range of SEM instruments can be found in our EPIC (SEM) Facility.
SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY (SPM)
SPM is the general umbrella technique for a suite of miroscopy tools that can provide everything from nanometer-scale surface images to local piezoelectric property measurements. By varying the type of probe and feedback mechanism, these tools can probe electrical, mechanical and magnetic properties from a range of different materials.
Our current range of SPM tools can be found in our SPID Facility.
ELECTRON MICROANALYSIS
The bevvy of signals produced by the electron-specimen interaction can provide a range of useful information about your sample. X-ray microanalysis techniques such as energy or wavelength dispersive spectrometry (EDS or WDS) are available on many of our systems to provide high spatial resolution elemental analysis. In addition, some of our TEM systems are equipped with electron energy loss spectrometers (EELS) for elemental and chemical analysis. We also have crystal orientation mapping capabilities by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD).
Our current range of microanalysis instruments can be found in our EPIC-SEM and EPIC-TEM Facilities.
MASS SPECTROMETRY
Mass Spectrometry measures the mass-to-charge ratio of ions from a sample, producing a mass spectrum to identify elemental or molecular species. This technique can be applied for a diverse set of research areas from pharmaceuticals to geology. Our tools can handle a range of samples and provide qualitative or quantitative analysis, with or without chromatographic separation.
Our current range of Mass Spectrometry tools can be found in the IMSERC Facility.
FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY (FTIR)
FTIR is a powerful and widely applicable vibrational spectroscopy technique to study chemical bonding and identify molecular structures. The technique can be applied to liquid, solid or gaseous samples and our facilities are also equipped with FTIR microscopy to analyze small specimens or areas of interest.
Our current range of FTIR tools can be found in our KECK-II Facility.
CORRELATIVE FLUIDIC AFM / OPTICAL MICROSCOPY
Among the more unique toolsets in SHyNE, this technique allows for correlative optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy within a fluidic environment. This is particularly useful for biomechanical studies on cells or interrogation of hydrogels or other water-containing materials.
Our current range of correlative optical/AFM tools can be found in our SPID Facility.