9626366 Wittig The Materials Science Program at Vanderbilt University will acquire a high resolution scanning electron microscope (SEM) to support materials science research and education projects. This instrumentation represents the first joint commitment between the College of Arts and Science and the School of Engineering to develop the basic infrastructure for materials research. The existing SEM instrumentation, acquired from 1979 to 1982, has insufficient resolution to adequately characterize the diverse types of materials that comprise our expanding research efforts. A primary capability for a new instrument is variable accelerating voltage from 0.2 to 30 kV with resolution of at least 2 nm at 30 kV and 5 nm at l kV. This set of imaging parameters must not compromise the analytical capabilities for x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy. In addition, the system will be fully automated with remote operation capabilities ald integrated into the Vanderbilt computer network. %%% A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is recognized as one of the most widely used materials characterization tools for analysis of all class of materials. The ability to image polymers, ceramics, metals, and semiconductors at nanometer resolution will impact every area of materials research at Vanderbilt. A high resolution SEM (HRSEM) will also strongly influence the educational development of our graduate students in Physics, Chemistry, and Engineering. ***
