Special Research Facility

Centre for Scanning Electron Microscopy

Following the inauguration of the new microscopy centre on 21 June 2005 the University now offers outstanding conditions for research for many reasons, not the least being the consolidation and new purchase of state-of-the-art equipment. An event of central importance for the new laboratory was the purchase of an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM). In comparison with conventional scanning electron microscopes (SEMs), the ESEM permits the expanded analysis of chemical and biological microworlds and will be used in particular for research. In the defined gas atmosphere that can be created in the ESEM, nearly all materials and objects can in principle be examined in the condition in which they are found. Likewise, the ESEM offers possibilities for selectively treating and changing materials and thus for observing them during dynamic processes. With the ESEM, it possible to watch the melting process for iron, for example. An object under the objective of the ESEM can be magnified by a factor of 100,000.

Furthermore, a digital scanning electron microscope and a computer-controlled scanning electron microscope are available. With this equipment, it is possible to gain knowledge quickly and simply on the composition and morphology of the surfaces of samples far into the submicrometer range. Both the macrostructure and microstructure of surfaces can be analyzed.