Researchers at the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, Eastern Michigan University, and Michigan State University want to watch what happens to materials when they are poked in real time. Their common goal is to understand how structure and chemistry of materials affect their properties, discover new phenomena, and design new materials. In doing so they want to share their excitement about materials science through inclusive classroom and outreach activities. The cornerstone instrument is a variable pressure field emission gun scanning electron microscope equipped with a unique set of complementary imaging and analysis modalities that will transform the breadth and depth of materials research in southeastern Michigan. The microscope will be housed in the Michigan Center for Materials Characterization, a University of Michigan shared user facility serving academic and industrial users from the greater Detroit area and State of Michigan. The faculty members, through their multidisciplinary expertise, will create a collaborative environment where experiments merge with modeling and computation, where an entire undergraduate classroom addresses the challenge of how to mine complex information from a microscopy dataset, and where elementary-school-age children operate a scanning electron microscope themselves and get to experience the exhilaration of scientific discovery.
Researchers in the Southeastern Michigan will take advantage of the unique combination of complementary signals and time-resolved probing and testing offered by the instrument, to perform novel experiments integrating data analysis and modeling approaches. The microscope will enable investigation of a wide range of materials (metals, semiconductors, polymers, biomaterials, oxides, bulk, thin films, nanostructures) and therefore a wide range of materials applications. The novelty is in the combination of complementary detectors allowing simultaneous imaging and analysis in order to, for instance, quantify kinetics of phase transformation under applied thermal load or deformation, quantify defects in III-N devices or impurities in geological materials using RS and mono-CL, or image oxidation or corrosion of surfaces via thermal and environment control. The experimental work enabled by the tool will be integrated with signal processing efforts to develop new data analytic tools, statistical algorithms, and advances in predictive modeling by leveraging machine learning and data mining. The microscope will be critical to the continued education of our undergraduate and graduate students via its use for in-depth classroom teaching and research training in state-of-the-art characterization techniques. It will also be used to develop more versatile and scalable teaching opportunities for a large body of students, post-docs, and for external users. The PIs and senior personnel will continue to strengthen and expand activities involving underrepresented minorities and stimulate STEM excitement among young students.
