Uppsala University installs new Auger microscope for advanced materials analysis
Auger microscope
A new Auger electron microscope has been installed at the Ångström Laboratory as part of WiseEST, a collaboration between Uppsala University and Luleå University of Technology supported by the WISE Research Technical Platform programme. The instrument enables highly detailed studies of surface chemistry and material transformations.
The microscope will be used by the Tribomaterials group at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering to study how materials change under friction, wear and chemical interaction. For the group, the instrument opens significant new possibilities for analysing thin reaction layers, microstructures and local changes occurring during mechanical contact.
“The distinguishing feature of this technique is its extreme resolution. Auger electrons originate only from where the electron beam is focused, and because they have relatively low energy they can only come from the outermost ten atomic layers,” says Robin Elo, Senior Research Engineer at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Applied Materials Science.
He adds:
“If you take a cross-section of a human hair, you can measure 5,000 individual points across its diameter. And a 10×10 micrometre image can be mapped in one million points.”
Analysing the chemistry of the top atomic layers
The Auger microscope uses a focused electron beam to image the surface while simultaneously generating Auger electrons. The kinetic energy of these electrons reveals which element they originate from, allowing precise chemical mapping at the point of impact.
With a lateral resolution down to around 10 nanometres, the technique makes it possible to chemically analyse everything that can be imaged in an electron microscope. This is particularly valuable for tribological processes where extremely thin and localised surface changes occur.
National collaboration for tribology research infrastructure
WiseEST is a joint initiative between Uppsala University and Luleå University of Technology to build a national research infrastructure for tribology. The effort is enabled by support from WISE – Wallenberg Initiative Materials Science for Sustainability, whose RTP programme funds advanced laboratory environments and instruments for sustainable materials science.
Additional equipment will be installed within WiseEST, including an environmental chamber for controlled testing and a microscale scratching system integrated into a scanning electron microscope.
Peter Westman