Advanced Microscopy Facility

ant

Ant

SEM images of a common ant (head and anus), by Dr. Elaine Humphrey.

Aliens

Aliens

An alien and its flying saucer? Just a zoea and a diatom, two microscopic marine organisms imaged by Dr. Elaine Humphrey.

Solar cells

Solar cells

SEM images of the surface and FIB cross section of a solar cell, by Dr. Milton Wang.

Gold nanoparticles

Gold nanoparticles

Gold nanoparticles on a thin carbon film imaged on the STEHM by Dr. Stefano Rubino. The nanoparticle on the right clearly shows atomic columns as white spots.

Salt crystals

Salt crystals

SEM image of crystals of table salt.

FIB preparation of a TEM sample

FIB-TEM

Two stages of TEM sample preparation performed with the FIB: (left) cut-out of a thin lamella from a bulk sample; (right) lift-out of the lamella welded to the nanomanipulator tip. By Adam Schuetze.

Advanced Microscopy Facility

Welcome to the Advanced Microscopy Facility (AMF), an open user facility located in the Bob Wright Centre at the University of Victoria in beautiful British Columbia. We are one of the core labs of the Centre for Advanced Materials and Related Technology (CAMTEC).

What we are about

"To make it as easy as possible to visualize the invisible"

We offer high-end instrumentation and expertise in a world class facility, providing a welcoming and professional atmosphere. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for our users to obtain scientific results of high quality.

Microscopy

Microscopy is the science of obtaining magnified images of samples in order to reveal otherwise invisible details and better understand their morphology and structure. Microscopy includes also the techniques related to image interpretation, analysis and sample preparation (staining, fixing, structure reconstruction, etc.). Traditionally it is divided into two main areas: materials science and life science.

Information about the crystal structure of materials can be obtained by electron diffraction. Furthermore, instruments that measure the energy exchange between the illumination and the specimen or the resulting radiation emitted by the sample can provide information beyond simple imaging such as elemental composition or electronic structure. Examples of these techniques are Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDXS).

Instruments

instruments

  • STEM/TEM with aberration correction,  EELS/EFTEM, EDX, holography and tomography.
  • FIB with W deposition and nanomanipulator
  • SEM with BSD and EDX
  • TEM with digital imaging
  • Sample preparation (C and Au/Pd coating, ion milling, UV and plasma cleaning, cryo-plunge)

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Our People

  • Co-Director: Rodney Herring
  • Co-Director & HHTC Research Chair: Arthur Blackburn
  • Lab Manager: Elaine Humphrey
  • CAMTEC Manager: Milton Wang
  • HHTC Engineer: Jonathan Rudge

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