CM-20 TEM is down on 2/6/2013 and up on 3/8/2013

Jian-Guo Zheng / / Instrument Status

The TEM maintenance started from the condenser aperture on Feb 6. FEI engineer opened the whole TEM column and replaced the old aligning tube with a new one. Meanwhile, he found that the beam deflector had a crack, an aging problem. Besides other parts, FEI shipped a new deflector to UCI last week, but it was for Tecnai TEM instead of for our CM-20 TEM. Because FEI stopped producing CM-20 TEM for many years, no new deflector was found for our TEM. Last week, a used one was finally shipped to our lab. After installing the deflector, pumping the TEM down and conditioning the HT, the electron beam was seen on this Monday. However, the service engineer could not get the TEM up to a good working condition on Monday and Tuesday. Today (Wed), FEI service manager visited us and found that the used deflector did not work properly. He is contacting the related people in FEI to find a solution for us. He is treating this as an emergency, but he does not know when this issue can be solved. He will keep me posted. When I have news about it, I will put it in comments. Sorry for the inconvenience caused by the downtime of this TEM.

Prof. Laurence Marks of Northwestern University talks about nanoparticles

Jian-Guo Zheng / / LEXI

Hi, TEM users and other LEXI users:

Prof. Laurence Marks of Northwestern University is going to give an invited talk today (1/28/2013, 3-4pm) in Calit2 Auditorium. Prof. Marks is a well-known TEM expert with rich research experience in materials science. This is a great opportunity for you to learn new TEM techniques and their applications in materials science research. The details of his talk are listed below.
Thanks for your attention!

Jian-Guo

Speaker: Prof. L. D. Marks
Title: NANOPARTICLES: FROM WULFF TO WINTERBOTTOM AND BEYOND
Date/time: 1/28/2013, 3pm-4pm
Venue: Calit2 Auditorium
Abstract:
NANOPARTICLES: FROM WULFF TO WINTERBOTTOM AND BEYOND
L. D. Marks
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208

Understanding the structure of nanoparticles is a problem where electron microscopy and modeling have been partners for many years. Single crystals are simple, and can be understood by the Wulff construction1 as proved during WWII by von Laue2, with extensions for supported particles on a flat substrate by Winterbottom3 and at an edge by Taylor et al4. However, nanoparticles often have different structures as first shown by of Ino and Ogawa5-7 who published just ahead of Allpress and Sanders8. These structures, called multiply-twinned particles or MTPs remained incompletely understood until microscopy data suggested a variant of a Wulff construction which can explain their equilibrium shapes9-11. Given the growth of nanotechnology in the last decades, it is time to return to some of these topics and look further. It appears there is still a fair amount of science left to be done, ranging from Wulff shapes for alloys12 to understanding the growth shapes of nanoparticles based upon a kinetic variant of the modified Wulff construction13. Some recent results such as finite size effects for alloys and single-phase nanoparticles and how this couples with the chemical potential and substrate interfacial energy, as well as how these relate to topics such as the design of face-selective catalysis14 as well as twin-boundary steps in nanoparticles as determined by atomic-scale tomography15 will be described.

1 Wulff, G. On the question of speed of growth and dissolution of crystal surfaces. Zeitschrift fur Krystallographie und Mineralogie 34, 449 (1901).
2 von Laue, M. Der Wulffsche satz fur die gleichgewichtsform von kristallen. Z. Kristallogr. 105, 124 (1943).
3 Winterbottom, W. L. Equilibrium shape of a small particle in contact with a foreign substrate. Acta Metal. 15, 303 (1967).
4 Zia, R. K. P., Avron, J. E. & Taylor, J. E. The summertop construction: crystals in a corner. J. Stat. Phys. 50, 727 (1988).
5 Ino, S. Epitaxial Growth Of Metals On Rocksalt Faces Cleaved In Vacuum .2. Orientation And Structure Of Gold Particles Formed In Ultrahigh Vacuum. Journal of the Physical Society of Japan 21, 346 (1966).
6 Ino, S. & Ogawa, S. Multiply Twinned Particles At Earlier Stages Of Gold Film Formation On Alkalihalide Crystals. Journal of the Physical Society of Japan 22, 1365 (1967).
7 Ino, S. Stability of Multiply-Twinned Particles. Journal of the Physical Society of Japan 27, 941 (1969).
8 Allpress, J. G. & Sanders, J. V. Structure And Orientation Of Crystals In Deposits Of Metals On Mica. Surface Science 7, 1 (1967).
9 Marks, L. D. Modified Wulff Constructions for Twinned Particles. J. Cryst. Growth 61, 556 (1983).
10 Marks, L. D. Surface-Structure and Energetics of Multiply Twinned Particles. Philos. Mag. A-Phys. Condens. Matter Struct. Defect Mech. Prop. 49, 81 (1984).
11 Howie, A. & Marks, L. D. Elastic Strains and the Energy-Balance for Multiply Twinned Particles. Philos. Mag. A-Phys. Condens. Matter Struct. Defect Mech. Prop. 49, 95 (1984).
12 Ringe, E., Van Duyne, R. P. & Marks, L. D. Wulff Construction for Alloy Nanoparticles. Nano Letters 11, 3399 (2011).
13 Ringe, E., Van Duyne, R. P. & Marks, L. D. Modified Kinetic Wulff shapes for Twinned Nanoparticles. Submitted (2012).
14 Enterkin, J. A., Poeppelmeier, K. R. & Marks, L. D. Oriented Catalytic Platinum Nanoparticles on High Surface Area Strontium Titanate Nanocuboids. Nano Letters 11, 993 (2011).
15 Chen, C. et al. Three-dimensional imaging of dislocations in nanoparticles at atomic resolution. Submitted (2013).

LEXI seminar: SEM Basic Concepts and Principles-FEI XL-30 FESEM

Jian-Guo Zheng / / LEXI seminar

Dear SEM users:

Here is a notice about LEXI seminar:

Title : SEM Basic Concepts and Principles-FEI XL-30 FESEM
Time/date: 2pm-3pm, Jan 30, 2013
Venue: 3008 Calit2
Speaker: Jian-Guo Zheng

Abstract: This seminar aims to help new SEM users understand basic concepts and principles. Using FEI XL-30 FESEM as an example, this seminar is not limited to any particular SEM instrument. The correlation between operations and principles will be covered. This seminar will also illustrate some SEM applications.

If you want to attend this seminar and have not signed up, please visit the link below:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlVa2cfmNf6XdEEtMmZqUnk4Sm5fUU5FdzN6NWRxcmc#gid=0

I would appreciate it if you could forward this notice to anyone who might be interested in. It is free to attend this seminar.

Thanks,

Jian-Guo

Microscopy and microanalysis 2013 conference: The deadline to submit paper is Feb, 15, 2013

Jian-Guo Zheng / / Conference

Hi, All:

The deadline to submit paper to Microscopy and microanalysis 2013 conference is Feb, 15, 2013. More details can be found from the link:
http://www.microscopy.org/MandM/2013/callforpapers.cfm
I would appreciate it if you could forward this message to anyone who is interested in. Thanks,
Jian-Guo

SCSMM Symposium: Call for Student Talks and Posters

Jian-Guo Zheng / / Conference

Call for Student Talks and Posters
SCSMM Symposium, Saturday March 30, 2012
Harry and Yvonne Lenart Auditorium, Fowler Museum, UCLA

All students attending Southern California universities are invited to submit titles and brief abstracts (~200 words plus one optional JPG image) to present their work at the SCSMM All-day Symposium to be held at Fowler Museum, UCLA on March 30, 2013. Five submissions will be selected as 15 minute platform presentations. All others will be invited to present posters describing their work.
As is our tradition, the best platform presentation will be awarded $500 and the best poster will be awarded $300. These awards are to support travel to the national M&M Meeting, this year to be held in Indianapolis, IN (August 4-8, 2013).
New: the best presentation and the best poster at SCSMM will be offered a second opportunity for presentation at M&M thanks to the M&M Program Committee.
Please submit abstracts to:
sergey@seas.ucla.edu
The subject line should read – SCSMM Student Presentation
The content should include:
Name, e-mail address and affiliation.
Preference for platform or poster presentation (students requesting a platform presentation may be asked to submit a poster as only five platform presentations are scheduled).
Presentation title.
A ~200 word abstract.
(Optional) an image after the text of the abstract and not exceeding one page.
Deadline for submission – February 15
Notifications of acceptance will be e-mailed by March 2.

Quanta 3D FEG Use Cap updated

Jian-Guo Zheng / / LEXI

 

Dear LEXI users,

After operating the Quanta 3D FEG dualbeam system for about two years, we have come to appreciate that it is very expensive to maintain the Ga ion source. In order to cover the cost of frequent ion source replacement due to heavy use, starting on Jan 1, 2013, the nighttime cap* on the Quanta will be raised to $8000 per person per quarter. We continue to encourage users to use the instrument during off-peak hours via a Quanta Nighttime Use Cap ($200 from 8 pm to 8 am, up from $150), which enables users to save up to $160 per night if the instrument is used for a full 12 hour nighttime session.

*The cap is ONLY applied to overnight (8 pm – 8 am) and weekend usage of the Quanta 3D FEG – and is applied per user. Caps for the other instruments remain unchanged.

These changes will allow LEXI to continue to maintain the Quanta at its peak performance for all users. 

Thanks for your attention!

LEXI management team

Registration Open for Fall Microscopy Meeting (SCSMM) on Nov. 8

Matthew Hunt Sullivan / / Conference

Please see the forwarded message below and links to the announcement and registration.

Fall 2012 Meeting Announcment; SCSMM Registration Form

————————————————————————–

Dear Fellow Microscopist,

Please find attached the “electronic” version of our Newsletter / Meeting Announcement as well as a Membership Application for the coming year.  Inside, you will find the details of our next meeting, to be held on November 8, 2012 in Pasadena.  The featured speaker will be Dr. Dan Lewis of the Huntington Library speaking on the Library’s microscopy collection.

If you would like to continue to receive the print version of the newsletter, please reply to this email to Mike Pickford (mspford@pacbell.net). We hope to see you all at the meeting.

Sincerely,

Your SCSMM Board