Author: dlwendel

The (MC)² image contest is open once again and will be taking submissions through Monday, May 10. All lab users who are graduate students and post-docs at U-M or other universities are invited to enter. Images must be obtained using an instrument at the center and may be artistically modified (false coloring, etc.) if you choose. 

Center staff will select one winning image and three runners-up to be framed and displayed in our office area. These and other images will also be featured in the ongoing photo collage in the Building 22 hallway outside the lab space. Once all spots in the collage have been filled, we plan to add an informational plaque. 

The submission form is available here. 

Please upload the highest quality image you can with regard to file size, bit depth, and resolution. Preferred image width is 1024 px or above and in .tif format. You are welcome to submit multiple entries if you would like.

All submissions should include the following:

• A title for the image
• A clear and detailed legend
• A short paragraph describing the scientific context
• Explanation of any artistic modification of the image (if relevant)

Participants grant the center permission to use their images in the future in various forms, such as brochures, educational materials for other users, or featuring on our website or other media.

We have several upcoming SEM/FIB training sessions in our YouTube live remote series. Direct links are below. Anyone can join, but users who need access on these microscopes should also submit a training request through our system FOM. New users can start by creating an account.

MC)² is excited to host Dr. Tracy Lovejoy from Nion Co. to present Recent Developments in STEM via Zoom on Thursday, 10/29, at 1:00 p.m. to discuss the application of this technique in our current and future research programs. If you are interested in attending, please contact mc2-staff@umich.edu for an invite. 

As a response to Covid-19 and the need for social distancing, (MC)² has explored different methods for remote training and collaboration. In addition to managing private training and service sessions through Zoom since our lab reopening in June, we have also developed a YouTube Live series which is open to anyone to attend, whether direct microscope access is needed or not. Users who are interested in access are able to request training as normal through our lab management system FOM, then we reach out once a livestream is scheduled. We encourage participation in live chat in place of the Q&A that would otherwise take place in-person. Anyone who is not a current lab user but has general microscopy interest may also attend live or watch later on our channel. Some of our past videos include the content below:

TFS Talos F200X TEM & STEM Alignments
TESCAN RISE Basic SEM Training
FEI Helios Basic Operation
UHR SACP on the FEI Helios
Cathodoluminescence on the TESCAN RISE
Lorentz imaging and iDPC on the TFS Talos F200X

We will continue to announce new entries in our remote training series as they become available. 

As of June 2020, Dr. Emmanuelle Marquis has retired from her position as center director, with Dr. Alan Taub taking on the next directorship. We would like to thank Dr. Marquis for her innovation and service over the last five years of leadership, as she worked tirelessly to bring in cutting-edge new equipment, upgrade existing instruments, standardize training processes, and expand the range of techniques in the center’s repertoire. 

We welcome Dr. Taub, MSE professor and senior technology advisor for LIFT (Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow), who brings a background in industry research and development to this role.  Dr. Taub is also the director of the new Michigan Materials Research Institute, in which (MC)² looks forward to playing a key part.  The institute will become a central point of contact between the university, industry, and federal sponsors to collaborate on interdisciplinary materials science research. 

Congratulations to the winners of our latest image contest! Thank you to all who submitted. 

1st Place

Rigel Hanbury, “Faceted Crystallites” (Thermo Fisher Nova 200 Nanolab SEM/FIB)

This is a secondary electron image of outer oxide particles formed on 316L stainless steel exposed to 320ºC hydrogenated water for 72 hours to simulate nuclear reactor core corrosion. These particles derive their crystallographic orientation from the underlying metal yielding common facets among separate particles. 

Runners-up:

Li-Jen Yu, “Doodle Drawing by an Alloy” (JEOL 2100F TEM)

A recolored STEM (scanning transmission electron microscope) image of dislocation loops and defects in an irradiated Ni-Cr alloy. Excessive point defects such as vacancies and interstitials are created in the alloy after irradiation. Once interstitials accumulate on certain crystallographic planes, dislocation loops can form. These dislocation loops can significantly affect the mechanical properties of the alloy. 

Insung Han, “Dried Flowers (Thermo Fisher Helios 650 Nanolab SEM/FIB)

Metastable Al-Mn quasicrystals formed by short-pulse laser irradiation, modified to show the dendrites’ resemblance to blooming flowers.

Ziwen Zhu, “Circulating tumor cell interacting with cancer associated fibroblast derived extracellular matrix” (Thermo Fisher Nova 200 Nanolab SEM/FIB)

This is an organoid model we built for circulating tumor cell. CTC was captured by the extracellular matrix and grown with cancer associated fibroblast together.

The (MC)² image contest is accepting submissions once again through Monday, May 18. The contest is open to all lab users who are graduate students and post-docs at U-M or other universities. Images must be obtained using an instrument at the center and may (but do not have to be) artistically modified. While we are looking forward to the time we can return to operations and see you all back in the lab, we hope that you will share with us some of your favorite micrographs from this past year of research with us. 

Center staff will select one winning image and three runners-up to be framed and displayed in our office area. These and other images will also be featured in the ongoing photo collage in the Building 22 hallway outside the lab space. Once all spots in the collage have been filled, we plan to add an informational plaque. 

To enter, click here. 

Please upload the highest quality image you can with regard to file size, bit depth, and resolution. Preferred image width is 1024 px or above and in .tif format. You are welcome to submit multiple entries if you would like.

All submissions should include the following:

• A title for the image
• A clear and detailed legend
• A short paragraph describing the scientific context
• Explanation of any artistic modification of the image (if relevant)

Participants grant the center permission to use their images in the future in various forms, such as brochures, educational materials for other users, or featuring on our website or other media.

Congratulations to the winners of our third user image contest! The next contest will be held in spring 2020. 

(MC)² invites users to submit to our fall image contest between now and Tuesday, November 19. The contest is open to all graduate students and post-docs at U-M or other universities. Images must be obtained using an instrument at the center and may be artistically modified if you choose.  

As we have previously, center staff will select one winning image and three runners-up to frame and display in our office area. Others may also be featured in the ongoing photo collage in the hallway outside the (MC)² office. Once the collage has been filled, we plan to add an informational plaque.

The first-place winner will also receive a $50 gift card to a local restaurant of their selection, and runners-up $25 gift cards.

To enter, click here. 

Please upload the highest quality image you can with regard to file size, bit depth, and resolution. Preferred image width is 1024 px or above and in .tif format. You are welcome to submit multiple entries if you would like, and we will automatically include all non-winning entries from past contests for consideration.

All submissions should include the following:

• A title for the image
• A clear and detailed legend
• A short paragraph describing the scientific context
• Explanation of any artistic modification of the image (if relevant)

Participants grant the center permission to use their images in the future in various forms, such as brochures, educational materials for other users, or featuring on our website or other media.

We are excited to announce that the center’s collaboration with the Michigan Ion Beam Lab (MIBL) has begun, and users can now request training or service work on a 300 kV transmission electron microscope attached to an ion beam system. The microscope, an FEI Tecnai G2 F30 TWIN, is located at MIBL on the North Campus and can be used as either a regular TEM, or in its paired capacity for in-situ ion irradiation studies. This experimental setup makes University of Michigan one of only a few locations in the U.S. (and currently the only university in the country) to offer an ion beam and electron beam combination. (MC)² research scientist Kai Sun and MIBL lab manager Ovidiu Toader will helm new projects and coordinate training at the MIBL facility.

The microscope will be of particular value to nuclear research groups, with applications that may extend more widely in the future. The initial motivation is to help design improved radiation-resistant materials for new generations of nuclear reactors. Primarily, interfacing the microscope with the accelerator allows for observation of changes in the microstructure of materials under ion irradiation that can help in understanding initiative damage in materials irradiated by neutrons. Because the research reveals high-energy ion beam effects on materials, it could also be useful for applications such as evaluating detector performance under radiation, or even medical treatments by ion beam (recent studies at other labs, for example, have investigated ion beam effects on tumors).

Two separate ion species can be combined for delivery to the TEM stage, which is invaluable for simulating the effects of neutron irradiation. Normally He ions are introduced to achieve this. The more ions that can be introduced to the TEM simultaneously, the closer conditions to those of neutron irradiation can be reproduced. (MC)² and MIBL’s configuration would be the first of its type in the U.S. that can introduce two beams simultaneously—currently He and Kr.

The microscope can also be used as a general TEM independently from the attached ion implanter. In this function, it is similar to the TEMs in the (MC)² lab. The TF30 has a lower resolution in STEM mode than the two aberration-corrected TEMs, but a higher resolution in TEM mode, large tilt range, and a higher e-beam energy that can be especially useful for thicker samples.

The scope is available now to registered U-M users, as well as industry and external academic researchers. The center’s regular rates and user policies apply to all microscope use.

Any questions?
Contacts: Kai Sun, kaisun@umich.edu; Ovidiu Toader, ovidiu@umich.edu
Full system details: https://mibl.engin.umich.edu/300-kv-fei-tecnai-tem

(MC)² is hosting a Dragonfly lunch-and-learn webinar on July 17, which will be of interest to users of our Zeiss Xradia Versa 520 3D X-ray microscope. We will be joined by a Dragonfly expert who will walk us through analyzing two tomography datasets in the Dragonfly software. Pizza lunch will be provided. 

Notable topics of interest will include data segmentation, i.e., 2D segmentation via histogram thresholding, using the segmentation trainer, watershed algorithms, and masking regions of data for easy segmentation. 

We will also explore working with meshes, data quantification, and extraction of particle and porosity size distributions. 

Please register at the link below if you plan to join so we can get a proper headcount. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1P4_k8KaKorBL6dNLKTsJ6uJRsHTeLvXQIKM2gdt5sEg

Congratulations to the winners of our second user image contest! The contest was judged by (MC)² staff. 

Runners-Up:

Eric Kazyak, “Snow in the Forest” (Acquired from the FEI Nova SEM/FIB)

“This SEM image shows the branched nanostructures that make up the scales of a Morpho butterfly wing. The regular spacing interacts with visible light, giving the butterfly its famous iridescent blue coloration. The “snow” layer is a thin zinc oxide layer deposited by Atomic Layer Deposition to impart photocatalytic activity and tune the structural coloration across the visible spectrum. The branches are 50-100 nm wide, and the ZnO layer is 35 nm. I placed snowflakes in the background to reinforce the appearance.”

Naomi Ramesar, “Pyrite Reef” (Acquired from the FEI Nova SEM/FIB)

“Spherical FeSx supraparticles (SPs) are assembled from fiber-like assemblies. This intermediate-stage SEM image shows the existence of both stable SPs and fiber intermediates. To replicate the coral reefs of Trinidad and Tobago where I grew up, false color was used.”

Thomas Maulbeck, “Rutile Heartstrings” (Acquired from the FEI Helios 650 Nanolab SEM/FIB)

“These are rutile TiO2 crystals growing on the top surface of Ti-20 at.% Nb oxidized for 1h at 900C. The image was colorized, cropped and colormapped with “Reds” in Python to make the heart shaped centerpiece pinkish-red.”

(MC)² is excited to begin our second image contest and is accepting submissions until Friday, April 19. Winning images will be framed and displayed in the center. A number of entries will also be featured in a new ongoing photo collage in the hallway outside the (MC)² office.

Additionally, the first-place winner will receive a $50 gift card to a local restaurant of their selection, and runners-up $25 gift cards.

The contest remains open to all graduate students and post-docs at U-M or other universities. Images must be obtained using an instrument at the center and may be modified artistically if you choose.

To enter, click here.

Please upload the highest quality image with regard to file size, bit depth, and resolution. Preferred image width is 1024 px or above. Image should be in .tif format. You are welcome to submit multiple entries if you would like.

All entries should include the following:

• A title for the image
• A clear and detailed legend
• A short paragraph describing the scientific context
• Explanation of any artistic modification of the image (if relevant)

Participants grant the center permission to use submitted images in any form in the future, including editing or publishing them on our website, twitter, or other media.

Congratulations to the winners of the first (MC)² image contest!

1st Place, Wonjin Choi, “Dandelion Pollen Grain” (Image acquired from the Tescan MIRA3 SEM)

 

 

 

 

“This image is an SEM image of a dandelion pollen grain, a reproductive micro structure produced by the male part of a plant. Spiky surfaces can help them to cling to the carrier and transport the grains. The diameter of pollen is about 20 microns. False colors are used to create a mysterious atmosphere.”

 

 

 

 

Runners-up:

Suk Hyun Sung, “Sub-angstrom resolution, picometer precision characterization of charge density wave material system 1T-TaSSe” (Image acquired from the JEOL 3100R05 TEM)

 

 

Jiao Yan and Zhengzhi Mu, “Helical Candies – Trick or Treat” (Image acquired from the Nova SEM/FIB)

 

 

 

 

“Our group has been working on the fabrication of chiral materials for decades, and the helix is the most intuitive chiral structure. However, helical structures are not that easy to obtain considering its complexity. In this work, very uniform and clean helices with homochirality (right-handed) were fabricated. The helices look very much like candies, and they were taken around Halloween, so we colored all the helices in the image with different colors.”

 

 

 

 

Huai-Hsun Lien, “The butterfly ‘D’ effect” (Image acquired from the JEOL 2010F TEM)

 

(MC)² is starting an image submission contest to share a glimpse into the diverse research of academic users at the center. The contest is open to (MC)² users who are graduate students and post-docs at the University of Michigan or other universities. The winner will receive a $50 gift card to a local restaurant.

Submissions for the first contest will be accepted until November 5, 2018; results will be announced shortly after this date. All entries will be considered rolling submissions and remain in contention for future contests, however, so may still be selected for a prize at a later date. 

Entrants allow the center permission to publish any images on our website, twitter, or other media.

Please upload the highest quality image with regard to file size, bit depth, and resolution. Preferred image width is 1024 px or above. Image should be in .tif format.

Images must be obtained using instruments at the center, but may be modified aesthetically if you choose. You can enter the contest here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSen2gTrqaHJ3jj4RxE6fcgZmE_BRvP3uqsePeSFtv_ao1b9hg/viewform?usp=sf_link

All entries should include the following:

• A title for the image
• A clear and detailed legend
• A description of the image providing scientific context (one paragraph)
• Details on any artistic modification of the image, if relevant

(MC)² was excited to host a Microanalysis Society topical conference on Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) this May 23–25, bringing together over 170 participants internationally, including students, researchers, and vendors. The conference featured three days of lectures and animated conversation on EBSD applications and developments within materials science, geoscience, planetary science, engineering, and industry. The dynamic conference format combined interactive live demonstrations from vendors using (MC)² equipment to showcase the latest EBSD hardware and software with poster and plenary sessions held in NCRC’s Football Room.

Along with talks on EBSD technology, Day 1 provided lab demonstrations on a flexible sign-up basis. Students and others seeking even more hands-on insights on EBSD methods were treated to tutorials in geoscience and engineering materials within the (MC)² laboratory space.

The theme of Day 2 was “EBSD for Characterization of Microstructure Evolution” and also featured a poster session with over forty participants. Day 3 emphasized advances in EBSD technology and data analysis, such as Bayesian approaches on how to most effectively use data mining approaches to assist in analyzing materials.

Represented vendors throughout the duration of the conference included Bruker, EDAX, Oxford Instruments, TESCAN, Thermo Scientific, ZEISS Microscopy, JEOL, Hitachi, Gatan, E.A. Fischione, EXpressLO LLC, Leica Microsystems, Mager Scientific, Cambridge Press, Buelher, BLG Vantage, NanoMEGAS, and Bluequartz.

Financial support for student travel was made possible through a National Science Foundation Award #1829336.