The ARL-SEMQ electron microprobe in the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences (MEAS) at North Carolina State University is critical for acquiring compositional data from geologic material, mainly minerals, within an academic program that serves graduate student and faculty research, and provides information for graduate theses, journal publications, and the general public. The computer that was interfaced with the microprobe in year 2004 has recently failed, and the microprobe has not been professionally serviced since year 2000. While the instrument is still operating, including the rebuilt computer, the instrument overall is failing in areas of electron beam stability, high vacuum, counting electronics, and in some hardware components - and the repaired computer can no longer be trusted. This proposal requests funds for a new instrument-interfaced computer and a one-time visit by a professional service person to bring the electron microprobe up to optimum operating condition.
The purpose of this project was to upgrade the principle analytical instrument for determining minerals compositions that is used at North Carolina State University. The instrument is called an electron microprobe, and it is operated by computer software running on a server-like computer. In order to have a modern, up-to-date microprobe and computer for data acquisition (mineral compositions) and processing, and for training students preparing for research and industry careers, it is essential to have a reliable and state-of-the-art computer operation (hardware and software). The project funding was largely used to purchase and install a new, quality computer to replace one that had failed, and to repair and maintain failing certain instrument components. All of these objectives were successfully completed by the speciality electron microprobe instrument company Advanced Microbeam, Vienna, Ohio. As an outcome of the research funding for the computer and servicing, the NCSU electron microprobe is now providing a laboratory environment to train several graduate students in analytical techniques for data acquisition for use in their Masters Theses. It is also enabling acquisition of new analytical data for faculty research projects that will eventually be published in scientifc journals that reach international communities. It has also been used for some public service, analyzing minerals provided to the lab by some lay persons. All objectives of the grant were met and NCSU now has an electron microprobe analytical facility that is competitive with those found in other flagship universities. The equipment upgrading and servicing will enable geologic and mineralogic research projects for at least five and maybe up to ten years before additional funding is required to keep the laboratory at the edge of electron microprobe research. Over this period, we anticipate many graduate and faculty research projects contributing to the scientific literature and to better understandings of the origins of certain geologic materials, such as igneous minerals and rocks.
