Dual Beam Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM/FIB)

Education

Our facility is used for both teaching and research purposes. In the education programme of the faculty this laboratory is utilized by various classes as part of their laboratory practices.

Undergraduate and graduate students are encouraged to get involved in the faculty research, and during their work they can have access to the SEM/FIB system. In the last years several theses by candidates for a university degree and doctoral theses have been based on the results accomplished by the SEM/FIB facility.

Academic and governmental partners, also customers from businesses are welcome to take advantage of our expertise. We offer a full spectrum of technical support that ranges from training courses, to sample preparation, instrument operation, energy dispersive x-ray analysis and backscattered electron diffraction. We offer very competitive rates and discounts are available for academic and frequent users.

Weekly Work Schedule

Events

18th International Microscopy Congress, Prague, Czech Republic

There is a micrograph competition named “Art in Microscopy” at the 18th International Microscopy Congress, Prague, Czech Republic, 7-12 September, 2014. Out of the 158 images sent for the competition the Organizing Committee has chosen 12 pictures for the final voting . Two images of the 12 finalists were made in our laboratory. These are pictures No. 1 and 10. In Life Science category one of our images came out first. The image was taken by Adrienn Baris and coloured by Szilvia Kalácska.

7-12 September, 2014

5th International Students' Geological Conference (ISGC)

The 5th International Students' Geological Conference was hosted by the Faculty of Science, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary 24-27 April, 2014. In the course of this conference a workshop was organized by the SEM Laboratory which was attended by 22 participants of the conference. In the first part of the workshop programme there was an introductory lecture about the SEM/FIB facility followed by two case studies, after which a lab visit with working demonstration was given.

24-27 April, 2014

Argon ion surface polishing

For the large majority of materials science studies a good quality surface is extremely important. It is of especially great importance in case of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) where the information depth is as shallow as some tens of nanometres and this is the reason why this analytical method requires a damage- and oxide-free sample surface. The SC-1000 SEMPrep dual Ar ion beam workstation developed by Technoorg Linda Ltd, Hungary, is suitable for both surface polishing and slope cutting of solid state samples, preparing high-quality surfaces. These surfaces allow several types of SEM investigations including the surface sensitive EBSD analysis. In the framework of a cooperation between Eötvös University and Technoorg Linda Ltd. sample preparation protocols were specified in the university SEM laboratory. A FEI “Quanta 3D FEG” SEM and its EDAX EBSD device were used to study the surface quality effects of ion milling.

EBSD protocols:

Surface polishing and slope cutting by parallel Ar ion beam for high-resolution EBSD measurements (PDF)
EBSD sample preparation: high energy Ar ion milling (PDF)

5 March 2014