The Nanostructures Laboratory is a part of the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) and the Silvio O. Conte National Center for Polymer Research at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. It is equipped with several Atomic Force Microscopes, Optical Microscopes, Variable Angle Spectroscopic Ellipsometer (VASE), Thin Film Optical Profilometer, Stylus Profilometer, Metal Evaporator etc. for the use of UMass community and as well as from other academic institutions and Industry. The mission of the Keck Nanostructures Laboratory is to provide access to material characterization equipment, technical support, training and consultation, as well as to perform a range of services for users in the area of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Variable Angle Spectrocopic Elliposmetry (VASE) and Optical Microscopy. The laboratory capabilities include high-resolution imaging of materials structure, Thin Film characterization etc. In addition the Nanostructures Laboratory has access to the Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope from the Optical Microscope facility of the MRSEC.

Atom-probe tomography (APT) is a microanalytical instrument producing an atom-by-atom three-dimensional reconstruction of a sample, with sub-nanometer resolution with a typical analyzed volume of about 150 x 150 x 500 nm³ . APT is particularly suitable to investigate nano-structured materials. Typical micro- and nanostructural features studied are: composition and morphology of second-phase precipitates or small clusters of solute atoms, compositional variation in modulated structures, multi-layer thin-film structures, dopant profiles of semiconductor structures (transistors), and analysis of the chemistry and topology of internal interfaces. Specimen preparation of almost any material is now possible employing a dual-beam focused-ion beam (FIB) microscope, which allows targeted sample preparation of a specific feature, such as a grain boundary or an individual transistor in a semiconductor device.

The Center (UMASS-MSC) provides state-of-the-art analytical equipment, analytical services and expertise in mass spectrometry for UMass-Amherst, neighboring scientific communities and their collaborators. Currently, UMASS-MSC serves the needs of more than 30 groups with active life science research interests by facilitating a) development of new organic/inorganic synthetic materials; b) analysis of variety of post-translational modifications in proteins, including biopharmaceuticals; c) quantitative comparative analysis of protein levels; d) fundamental studies in protein/protein and protein/ligand interaction research areas etc., owing to its expanding capabilities in modern methods of mass spectrometry.

UMASS-MSC is also actively used within the framework of the NIH-funded Chemistry-Biology Interface (CBI) program (5T32 GM008515-15). Nineteen training faculty of the CBI program are users of the Facility’s instrumentation.

UMASS-MSC houses hybrid Quadrupole Time-of-Flight (Applied Biosystems QStar-XL), Double-Focusing Magnetic Sector (JEOL-700 MStation), Fourier-Transform Ion-Cyclotron Resonance (Bruker's SolariX 7T FT-ICR), Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization (Bruker's MALDI-OmnifleX), Bruker Esquire-LC Ion Trap mass-spectrometers and several HPLC, including Ultimate Nano-LC Packings, and GC Systems.

The Polymer Characterization Facility is maintained by the CEMS Polymer Group, but is available to researchers campus wide, and also to industrial clients (IPRIME Industrial Partners get a significant discount). Assistance or collaboration is available for testing, training, and interpretation of results. The Rheology Lab is a major part of the Polymer Characterization Facility, and rheometry can be a sensitive probe of structure in complex materials such as polymers.

This ultrahigh vacuum facility consists of a scanning electron microscope, atomic force microscope, and scanning tunneling microscope combined in one state-of-the-art instrument (JEOL JSPM-4500A). This instrument allows for multi-scale microscopy at variable temperatures and proximal probe measurements of devices, growth structures and attendant fields. Control electronics are suitable for MFM/EFM measurements and provide scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy (SKPM) at sub-nanometer spatial resolution. Sample fabrication capabilities - ion gun, single and multimode effusion cells with collimation and spot positioning for in-situ deposition on the SPM stage - extend the scope of experiments. This facility is operated cooperatively with the Department of Physics.

The W. M. Keck Center for Advanced Microscopy and Microanalysis (Keck CAMM) houses two 200 kV field emission transmission electron microscopes (Talos F200C and JEM-2010F), one 300 kV transmission electron microscope (JEM-3010), one 120 kV transmission electron microscope (Tecnai-12), two field emission scanning electron microscopes with FIB-SEM dual beam capability (Auriga 60 and JSM-7400F), and two scanning probe microscopes (Dimension 3100V and Multimode NanoScope V).

See Facility Type below. Additional Facility Types:

In-Situ TEM

Cryo-TEM

Cryo-SEM

Facility Primary Contact: Chaoying Ni

The Nanoscale Fabrication Center (NFC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison provides a research facility for microfabrication technologies, products and innovations. In order to give students a state-of-the-art education and to maintain leading-edge research programs, we continue to improve this advanced laboratory.

NFC maintains a suite of semiconductor and microfabrication processing equipment in a cleanroom laboratory. Access to the lab and to all equipment is available to qualified users from the University of Wisconsin, other education institutions, or industry. WCAM is a cost recovery facility.

The laboratory is located on the third floor of the Engineering Centers Building on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Click here for a searchable UW campus map, or return to the NFC home page for more contact information.

For use, questions or more information, please contact the DIrector of MRSEC facilities:

Dr. Jerry Hunter ([email protected])

(608) 263-1073

The XCL accepts samples for structural analysis from colleges and universities, as well as from industry. The XCL specializes in samples that suffer from twinning, small size or solvent loss. Please contact us for questions concerning the submission procedure (download sample submission form). Annually, we teach an X-ray crystallography class which covers theory and prepares students to carry out their own structural analyses. Students and postdocs with previous experience in X-ray crystallography may also become facility users. Policies: 1) Clients of our facility receive by email a full report file and a CIF (crystallographic information file) which is required by most journals. 2) All samples are retained by our facility for one month before disposal. Should a client wish a sample returned, he or she should request it with submission.