Upgrade of a transmission electron microscope energy dispersive spectroscopy (TEM-EDS) detector for teaching and interdisciplinary research

用于教学和跨学科研究的透射电子显微镜能量色散光谱 (TEM-EDS) 探测器的升级

• 批准号: 2019520
• 负责人: Sarah Carmichael
• 金额: $ 5.65万
• 依托单位: Appalachian State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-07-15 至 2021-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2019520&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Upgrade; transmission; electron; microscope; energy

This National Science Foundation grant supports the upgrade of an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) detector system for the transmission electron microscope (TEM) in the Dewel Microscopy Facility at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. The multi-user Dewel Microscopy Facility supports the research and teaching of five departments and is the only electron microscopy facility serving the mountains of western North Carolina. There is no comparable instrumentation (TEM-EDS/STEM) either within the university or in geographical proximity. The TEM at Appalachian State University is used for teaching by multiple departments, and is vital to a variety of research endeavors. It has enabled regional, national, and international collaborations, and attracted and helped retain faculty with active and energetic research programs. TEM-based research will be used not only to recruit students who find independent, high tech laboratory research appealing, but also those who may not feel comfortable with or able to participate in field-based research. Appalachian State University is one of the only providers of science-related outreach activities for a rural, underserved region with an economy that is still classified as “at risk” by the Appalachian Regional Commission. Outreach activities already involving the existing TEM are numerous, and range from hands-on demonstrations to workshops to science festivals. An operational, state-of-the-art detector will allow the facility to increase participation by all students, expand the scope of the outreach activities through the Microscopy Facility, and attract new users from off campus and well as on campus. The newer silicon drift TEM detector (funded by this proposal) will have exponentially faster detection times, better detection limits, will be able to detect light elements, and will not require liquid nitrogen for operation, compared to an TEM-EDS detector (using a Si-Li crystal). This upgrade will allow the university to greatly enhance and expand its research and teaching activities, such as investigating microbial manganese mineral formation in cave and karst environments, exploring the role of mineral-induced selection by microbes, map heavy metal uptake on metal oxide precipitates from acid mine drainage sites, study the microbial ecology of peat bogs, help characterize novel methanogens, map conodont growth, investigate grain boundaries in migmatites, and assist in studies of ore mineral genesis in the central and southern Appalachians.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这项国家科学基金会拨款支持北卡罗来纳州布恩阿巴拉契亚州立大学 Dewel 显微镜设施的透射电子显微镜 (TEM) 的能量色散 X 射线光谱 (EDS) 和扫描透射电子显微镜 (STEM) 探测器系统的升级多用户德维尔显微镜设施支持五个部门的研究和教学，是唯一为北卡罗来纳州西部山区提供服务的电子显微镜设施。 （TEM-EDS/STEM）无论是在大学内部还是在地理上邻近的地方，阿巴拉契亚州立大学的 TEM 都用于多个院系的教学，对于各种研究工作至关重要，它促进了区域、国家和国际合作。 ，并通过基于 TEM 的研究项目吸引并帮助留住教师，该项目不仅用于招收那些认为独立、高科技实验室研究有吸引力的学生，还用于招收那些可能不喜欢或无法参与的学生。阿巴拉契亚实地研究。州立大学是为农村、服务欠缺地区提供科学相关外展活动的唯一提供者之一，该地区的经济仍被阿巴拉契亚地区委员会列为“面临风险”，涉及现有 TEM 的外展活动数量众多且范围广泛。从实践演示到研讨会再到科学节，一个可操作的、最先进的探测器将使该设施能够增加所有学生的参与，通过显微镜设施扩大外展活动的范围，并吸引新用户。校外和校内与 TEM-EDS 检测器相比，新型硅漂移 TEM 检测器（由本提案资助）将具有指数级更快的检测时间、更好的检测限，能够检测轻元素，并且不需要液氮进行操作（使用硅锂晶体）这一升级将使该大学能够极大地加强和扩大其研究和教学活动，例如研究洞穴和喀斯特环境中微生物锰矿物的形成，探索微生物诱导矿物选择的作用，地图。重金属吸收对酸性矿山排水场所的金属氧化物沉淀物进行研究，研究泥炭沼泽的微生物生态，帮助表征新型产甲烷菌，绘制牙形刺生长研究图，混合岩中的晶界，并协助研究阿巴拉契亚山脉中部和南部的矿石矿物成因。通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，NSF 的法定使命被认为值得支持。