Applied Chemical and Morphological Analysis Laboratory Newsblog

ME-EM Graduate Seminar Speaker Series

proudly presents:

Pinaki Mukherjee, PhD

Michigan Technological University

Abstract: This talk presents an overview of state-of-the-art capabilities of the aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope (ac-STEM) at ACMAL, Michigan Tech. The FEI Titan Themis microscope we have here is one of a kind in the whole nation in terms of capabilities. These capabilities have been developed in last two years and most of them are already available for users. We have a wide range of imaging and spectroscopic techniques that enables a user to identify elements at atomic scale (~ 0.1 nm). READ MORE

Thursday, February 13 at 4:00 p.m.

Electrical Energy Resources Center (EERC), 103
1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931

The ESEM is back online and ready to use.

ESEM is down for the weekend with a vacuum problem.  I’ll fix it Monday

We have 3 stainless steel dewar tanks for dispensing liquid nitrogen in room 637 (Sample Prep). One of them has had a leak and was unusable for several months. I repaired it yesterday. If you find that the dewar in the outer room is empty get the 2nd one in the back room. There is no need to take the hose off of the 2nd dewar any more.

2:13 p.m. The FESEM is back online and ready for use. If you have any trouble call me.

12:53 p.m. There is a problem with the cooling system so I had to shut the FESEM down. MTU Facilities is working on the chiller. I’ll keep you posted as the repair is made.

The annual steam shutdown will take place during the week following spring commencement—Sunday, May 3 – Friday, May 8 (weather permitting). This outage is required to provide maintenance and service of the boilers and steam distribution system on campus. This planned maintenance improves the reliability of our system and reduces the likelihood of an unplanned failure during the winter heating season.

There will not be heat or hot water in the affected buildings during the steam shutdown. There will be no distilled water available from the steam-driven stills. Steam-driven autoclaves/sterilizers will not be operational. 

The buildings affected will include:

• Administration Building
• ROTC Building
• Academic Offices Building
• Annex Building
• Electrical Energy Resources
• DOW Envir Sciences & Eng Bldg
• Rozsa Performing Arts & Educ
• Walker – Arts & Humanities
• Minerals & Materials Engr Bldg
• Grover C. Dillman Hall
• Fisher Hall
• J.R. Van Pelt Library
• U.J. Noblet Forestry Building
• Chemical Sciences & Engr Building
• R.L. Smith (MEEM) Building
• Student Development Complex
• Kanwal and Ann Rekhi Hall
• Douglass Houghton Hall
• Memorial Union Building
• Wadsworth Hall
• McNair Hall
• Central Heating Plant
• Facilities Management
• Hillside Place
• Great Lakes Research Center

Facilities Management has developed a five-year rotating plan to service the 12,470-volt switchgear and associated breakers on campus. Our campus electrical distribution system depends on this gear being in good working condition. This work requires a two-night power outage that affects the least number of buildings possible. Please note that in most cases elevators, fume hoods, exhaust fans, ventilation equipment, normal lighting, plug-in appliances, and plug-in equipment will not operate during the outage.

Only items connected to the building emergency generator will have power during the outage; the building emergency generators and battery systems that supply power to emergency/egress lighting and special equipment should function as normal. If you are unsure if your equipment connects to the building emergency generator, please contact the Facilities Management Building Mechanic for your building.

Information Technology will turn off all network equipment in the affected buildings for these outages starting at 5 p.m. You should plan to save any work and shut down your computer systems and exit buildings before the outages. Additionally, some buildings with power will be without phone or internet service. Only the buildings listed will have their power shut off during the scheduled outages.

There will be two power outages.

Power Outage One: Begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 6 until 6 a.m. Thursday, May 7.

Power Outage Two: Begins at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 7 until 6 a.m. Friday, May 8.

Building affected will include:

• Rekhi
• Dillman
• Fisher
• Hamar House / CDI
• Forestry
• M&M 
• ME-EM
• ROTC
• Academic Office Building
• Alumni House
• Annex

Buildings with power but no phone or internet:

• Gates Tennis Center
• Little Huskies
• US Forest Service Labs
• EMS/SLS Garage

You can find more details and updates on the Facilities Management website. If there are questions or concerns with this plan, contact Energy Management or Facilities Management at 7-2303.

By Energy Management and Facilities Management.

1:56 p.m. ESEM filament is back online and working fine. Ready to use.

12:15 p.m. The filament burned yesterday after. We put a new one in this morning but its not working just right. We are working on it now.

It’s too hot to touch today, so we’ll get it back online tomorrow morning.

A persistent complaint about the FESEM EDS system was that it was hard to get enough counts (deadtime) for optimal work. To address this we upgraded the detecting crystal in the EDS detector. Now the crystal is 30 mm² – it was 10 mm². Now, for the same beam current, there are additional counts (deadtime). You can get 25-30% deadtime at 20kV with the condenser lens set to 5.

I have the system calibrated and you are free to use the upgraded EDS system.

Let me know if you have questions.

The JEOL JSM-6400 SEM and the JEOL JEM-2010 TEM instruments in the Electron Optics Facility are no longer in service.

Please contact Owen Mills about alternatives.