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UNT'S MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CHARACTERIZATION LABORATORY HOUSES ADVANCED INSTRUMENTATION FOR PROBING THE STRUCTURE, CHEMISTRY AND COMPOSITION OF MATERIALS DOWN TO THE NANOMETER AND ATOMIC LENGTH SCALES.

Such a combination of instruments and their layout makes this lab a unique facility both locally and among major research universities in the United States. The instruments in this lab are complementary to each other, and combining the experimental information from these different instruments gives a robust and realistic picture regarding the structure and chemistry of complex materials. A good example of this complementary set of instruments is the trio comprising the dual-beam focused ion beam microscope (FIB-SEM), the high-resolution analytical transmission electron microscope and the 3-D atom probe microscope.   The FIB-SEM allows one to carry out high-resolution scanning electron microscopy on various materials and components from industry and site-specific or location-specific sample preparation, and these samples can immediately be analyzed using the TEM and 3-D atom probe.

Not only are these three powerful characterization instruments highly complementary in nature, but they also are located in close proximity within the Materials Research Facility (MRF) — literally in adjacent rooms. Additionally, the lab has a range of other microscopy, spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction instruments, all located in close proximity in a central location.

The facilities in this lab are used by researchers from industries such as aerospace, defense and oil and natural gas, as well as academic investigators from all around the world.