Midsize Facilities The Infrastructure for Materials Research (2006) / Chapter Skim
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From page 11... ...
The capabilities offered by midsize facilities are generally more wide ranging and much more expensive than are those encountered in a single investigator's laboratory. The sharing of resources has therefore become a necessity, at the same time presenting increasing opportunities for enhancing interdisciplinary research, contributing to the development of cutting-edge instrumentation, and educating the next generation of researchers.
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The establishment of such central facilities within industrial corporations enhanced both of these routes, although some individual investigators had their own instruments. Major advances in materials research have been achieved by all of the approaches referred to above.
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by high-resolution electron microscopy This new approach to university research included the establishment of central facilities for a variety of functions, ranging from cryogenics research to materials synthesis and character ization. These facilities were equipped with state-of-the-art instruments and had professional and technical staff to serve the researchers' needs.
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The question then arises as to how this research can be performed efficiently and well. Enabling Research Nanoscience and nanotechnology represent strong examples of research depen dent on midsize facilities (see Figures 1.2 and 1.3)
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. These structures are formed by electron-beam lithography and reactive ion etching, key tools for nanofabrication facilities.
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Hutchison, Oxford University. Another aspect of the important role played by midsize facilities in advancing materials science is illustrated in the area of nanocharacterization.
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too specialized to be established in the laboratories of individual investigators or departments. High-resolution transmission electron microscopes (TEMs)
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Midsize facilities provide the natural environment for this work: an individual investigator does not have the resources to pursue it, and the (often-oversubscribed) largest facilities cannot afford the time and energy to customize or specialize an apparatus for each user's needs.
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These small-scale synchrotron sources would likewise be able to fit into a normal-size laboratory -- an advance that would then make them easily available for use by many universities and institu tions. This advance -- while likely to enable significant new opportunities -- will add to the strain on the midscale instrumentation budget (see Box 1.3, "Desktop-Size Synchrotron Radiation Sources," for more details)
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A modern TEM often has all the capabilities shown in red. Scanning Probe Microscopy Scanning probe microscopy (SPM)
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This versatile instrument allows the focusing and rastering of a less than 10 nm ion beam onto a material, with the possibility of directing a scanning electron beam at precisely the same location. Thus, either ion-induced or electron-induced images are possible.
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Now the FIB is even being used to cut into biological materials (for instance, blood cells) , and in conjunction with cold-stage electron microscopy reveals the cytostructure directly.
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This trend will quickly become an essential part of experimental sciences at the nanoscale, as the tools themselves are used to fabricate and characterize materials, bringing an enhanced level of understanding to the long-term paradigm in materials research of microstructure property correlations. Staffing Trends The increase in the capabilities and sophistication of instrumentation is placing new demands on the technical and professional staff required to support the instrumentation.
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Midsize facilities carry out three important roles in the development of under graduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral associates: BOX 1.3 Desktop-Size Synchrotron Radiation Sources Synchrotron radiation has already revolutionized x-ray science as a consequence of its extremely bright beams and its continuous spectrum. The disciplines taking advantage of this structural analysis tool include structural molecular biology, physics, geology, materials science, semiconductor processing, and molecular environmental science.
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Learning new techniques from a practical perspective is a valuable complement to classroom exposure to technology. A The need for local synchrotron radiation facilities was discussed in the Report of the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee Panel on Department of Energy Synchrotron Radiation Sources and Science.
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Commercial Activities By serving as testbeds, expert resources, or simply research and development work space, midsize facilities help invigorate ongoing commercial ventures or even spawn new ones. Industrial collaborators pay fair market prices to use mid size facilities on short-term or even on recurring bases, because they recognize the economy of outsourcing the operations, maintenance, and professional staff over head that such facilities require.
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DEFINITION OF A MIDSIZE FACILITY Midsize facilities are distinct from small facilities in being large enough to require a dedicated and explicit infrastructure for their sustained success. They are distinct from large facilities in being small enough to be flexible and responsive to the needs of a relatively local user community and in possessing equipment the scale and cost of which allow duplication, when demand merits, in different regions of the nation.
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3Indeed, over the summer of 2003 the committee visited a number of facilities that would not qualify as midsize facilities for materials research, and yet they provided valuable information that was relevant to the committee's charge.
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4For instance, the popular Materials Research Science and Engineering Center program of the National Science Foundation supports centers that often contain a "shared experimental facility" element. 5A forthcoming report by the National Research Council's Committee on Advanced Research Instrumentation is expected to address these issues in more detail and in a broader context, including interdisciplinary and interagency perspectives.
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For electron microscopes, the incident particle beam is a collimated beam of electrons that can scan across the sample, tunnel through it, or be transmitted. For secondary ion mass spectrometry, particles incident upon a sample eject secondary ions that are analyzed for composition.
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FIGURE 1.4.2 Depiction of the depth of sample material that can be analyzed with different materials characterization techniques. Courtesy of Evans Analytical Group.
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SCOPE OF THIS STUDY This study was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of the network of midsize facilities that the federal government supports -- fully, or in large part -- to enable materials research within the United States, to establish the level of accessibility of the facilities to the broadest possible research community, and to determine how the network could be modified to have maximum impact in a financially con strained era. The formal charge to the committee is provided in Appendix A
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Chapter 4 characterizes the current investments in midsize facilities and refers to the international context. The absence of a thematic home for the long-term commitments essential to midsize facilities is identified as one area ripe for improvement.
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; a summary of the National Science Foundation Workshop on Chemical Instrumentation held April 16-17, 1999 (Appendix G) ; a personal perspective from a midsize facility user (Appendix H)
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