News

Practical Surface Characterization of Materials: An Interactive Short Course on XPS, UPS and SIMS

A two day short course on surface characterization will be held on the Georgia Tech Campus from Thursday, August 17th to Friday, August 18th.

Course details/ summary –  A detailed introduction to the principles and practice of two techniques for analyzing the first few monolayers of a surface: XPS -the most common surface analytical method and ToF-SIMS a mass-spectroscopy-based method complementary in many ways to XPS.  Taken together they allow:

  • The detection of the elemental composition of a sample
  • The detection of even trace elements down to ppm of a monolayer
  • The chemical bonding between elements
  • The lateral and vertical distribution of elements in the top layers of a sample
  • The surface bonding and band structure of compounds including work function and band occupancy

More details and registration can be found here.

Webinar – XRF Theory

X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) is a powerful technique for the analysis of elemental compositions of solid, powdered, and liquid materials. It can deliver high precision, quantitative results for both process control and completely unknown samples using purpose built calibrations.

High quality results can also be obtained using powerful standardless analysis software. This webinar covers the basics of the technique, extent of its capabilities, instrument types, and touches on the important topic of sample preparation. The webinar is geared toward those with little or no experience with XRF wishing to learn more and will be displayed in the lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building at 10:00AM on June 7, 2017.

More details can be found here.

Webinar – Is the X-ray diffraction theory we use correct? May 30, 2017

The theory of X-ray diffraction from crystals has been established for over 100 years; although it is still used, it cannot account for some of the experimental data. The theory combined with measured data can sometimes lead to the wrong structural model. In this webinar you will hear about a new theory that includes the diffraction from crystals in all directions, which explains the diffraction from polycrystalline materials and the data collected in serial crystallography without the need for complex structural requirements.

This webinar will be on display of the lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building at 11:00EST on May 30, 2017.

More information can be found here.

XRF Webinar – Different Approaches to Bulk Quantification – June 1st, 2017

In XRF there are different approaches to the quantification of spectra from bulk samples. Every quantification approach has specific strengths and weaknesses, but the M4 TORNADO’s “tool box” of suitable quantification methods provides you with appropriate options when it comes to quantification of non-ideal sample types.
The webinar will be rounded off by a 15-minute Q&A session where our experts will answer your questions.

It will be displayed in the main lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building at 11:00AM on June 1st.

Webinar – May 23, 2017 – Beyond Cu: The many colors of X-rays – selecting the best X-ray tube for your analysis

Presented by: Scott Speakman Ph.D – XRD Principal Scientist

Modern laboratory diffractometers are designed to operate with X-ray tubes that may have many different types of anodes: Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Mo, Ag, and more. The X-ray tube anode determines the wavelength of radiation that is produced for measurements. Despite the wide selection of anodes available, contemporary literature is dominated by research that uses Cu wavelength X-rays for powder diffraction and scattering studies—so much so that some researchers mistakenly believe it is the only choice because “everybody else uses it”. While Cu anode X-ray tubes have always been widely used in laboratory diffractometers, literature provides many examples of measurements that benefited from the use of other wavelengths of radiation, including synchrotrons and neutron beamlines.

This webinar will be streamed in the lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building on May 23 at 11:00AM.

in-situ TEM workshop between March 21-23, 2017

Gatan company and DENS Solutions will give an in-situ TEM workshop at Georgia Tech between March 21-23, 2017.

The workshop includes:

March 21: presentations in the morning – 2 from Gatan, and 2-3 from GA Tech, then an afternoon of demos on the instrument of known samples open to all attendees.

March 22-23: specific GA Tech samples

The information about the in-situ heating TEM holder and Nano-chip sample preparation can be find here.

Webinar: How to calculate a Pair Distribution Function with HighScore software

The pair distribution function (PDF) provides the probability of finding atoms separated by a certain distance; useful information about the short- and long-range ordering of the atoms in the materials can be extracted from the analysis of the PDF. Because atomic periodicity is not a requirement for the analysis, the PDF method is best suited for the analysis of amorphous and nanomaterials, but also for disordered crystalline materials.

This webinar will be displayed in the lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building on February 16th from 10:00-11:00AM.

More information can be found here.

Webinar: X-ray powder diffraction with BBHD, structure solution

A webinar from PANalytical will be shown in the lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building at 10:00AM on February 9th, 2017.

The live webinar will show how to solve a crystal structure from powder data using the Empyrean diffractometer and the HighScore software suite. We will discuss the requirements for solving a crystal structure from powder data and we will show recent examples of some vanadates among which a new larnite/belite structure. Furthermore, as phase transitions may appear as function of temperature, the best practice for high-temperature measurements will be presented.

A live question and answer session will follow the presentation.

More details can be found here.

Webinar on XRR in the Marcus Lobby on Dec 15th, 2016

Do you want to collect high-quality X-ray reflectometry data? Good practices that will help

X-ray reflectometry (XRR) is a well-established analytical method for the characterization of thin layered structures, surfaces and interfaces. It is used to determine layer thicknesses and densities and provides roughness-related information. The basics of XRR and the analysis of XRR data were discussed in a previous webinar. This time, the focus will be on a typical workflow, from setting up the X-ray optics of a diffractometer, the essential steps of the sample alignment procedures to the final XRR measurement.
Don’t miss the useful practices and tips that we will share with you in this webinar. They will help you to collect high-quality XRR data from your layered samples.

Webinar details

December 15, 2016
10:00am EDT New York or 4:00pm CET the Netherlands

More information can be found here.

Will be displayed on the main monitor in the lobby of the MCF in the Marcus Nanotechnology Building.

Webinar: See how material research is made easy!

Materials research is everywhere – from pharmaceuticals over geological exploration to research on the latest nanomaterials. In all these fields X-ray diffraction (XRD) is a key tool.
PANalytical’s new benchtop X-ray diffractometer has been designed for easy everyday analysis of your materials. Yet, the performance of the instrument is what you would previously only have expected from a full-power, large floor-standing X-ray diffraction system. What is more, the system allows for the use of an non-ambient stage for the study of changes in your materials at temperatures up to 500 °C. More information can be found here.