The Reston Electron Microbeam Laboratory is a multi-user facility that maintains and operates state-of-the art electron beam instruments to image and analyze micro-nanoscale properties. Lab staff along with providing instruction in the operation of microbeam instrumentation to lab users also conduct microbeam research on a variety of geologic topics.
Sample Preparation/Coating Equipment:
- Denton carbon benchtop turbo coater
- Leica ACE 600 carbon/iridium benchtop turbo coater
- Spi gold sputter coater
- E.A. Fischione 1060 SEM dual-beam ion mill (broad ion beam)
- Standard geologic sample preparation equipment: Epoxy and thermoplastic binder compounds, grinding/polishing equipment.
Electron Microbeam Instruments:
Along with various sample preparation equipment, the two main analytical instruments in the Reston Electron Microbeam Lab are the Hitachi SU 5000 field-emission variable pressure scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and the JEOL 8900 electron microprobe (EMP). The FE-SEM is capable of high-resolution imaging (≤5nm) and can be operated at low vacuum conditions to examine uncoated/beam sensitive samples. The FE-SEM is also equipped with an energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) for elemental analysis and a cathodoluminescence (CL) detector for RGB imaging as well as CL-spectroscopy.
The EMP is equipped with 5 wavelength dispersive spectrometers (WDS) and is optimized for quantitative chemical analysis of solids. It is also equipped with an EDS-SDD for rapid phase identification prior to more detailed analysis.
