Imaging techniques
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
This is one of the most widely used imaging techniques to analyze the morphological and micro-structural properties of materials with sub-micrometric lateral resolution. Thanks to its great versatility and its ability to perform analyses on a non-destructive manner, it can be used for a very wide range of activities, from nano-technology to the development of nano-structured materials to failure analyses and process control in industrial activities.
Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)
It is a type of scanning probe imagery (a sort of profilometer) that can view topographic images of the surface of the sample at much higher resolutions than can be achieved with optical microscopes. It is a highly versatile instrument than can be used for a wide variety of applications: metallurgy, semiconductor technology, the study of surfaces, magnetic materials, polymer science, composite materials, optical science, biology, and medicine.
Thanks to synchrotron light it is also possible to:
- Obtain two-dimensional or three-dimensional images of the morphology of the sample even for materials that are opaque under the visible spectrum
- Carry out the morphological characterization, including chemical properties, for many materials, their chemical reactions, and the mass transport processes that take place on their surface
SOME EXAMPLES OF APPLICATIONS