Seeing atoms – a new TEM for the Institute of Materials Research

16 December 2022

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Rendering of the finished building
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Credit: hmp Architekten Allnoch und Hütt.
Spectra 300 TEM
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Credit: Thermo Fischer Scientific.
STEM image with fourier transformed diffractogram
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Credit: Dr. Anna Carlsson, Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Poured floor slab of the new building
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Credit: Private (Marc Ley).
Floor slab before casting with bottom reinforcement layer
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Credit: Private (Marc Ley).

The Institute of Materials Research will be expanding its analytical equipment pool with a new transmission electron microscope (TEM).

The acquisition of the Spectra 300, a Thermo Fisher Scientific TEM of the latest generation, and several peripheral devices, along with the construction of a new lab building, has been approved as a large-scale investment by the DLR executive board. The lab building is designed specifically to meet the strict requirements of the microscope on its surrounding. The start-of-operation of the TEM is scheduled for the year 2024.

After the groundbreaking at the 6th of September 2022, the construction of the foundation and floor slab was finished in November. In order to not transfer any disturbing vibrations from the building and its surrounding towards the highly sensitive microscope, a massive concrete floor slab with a thickness of 2.00 m and a weight of 1,500 t has been poured using more than 600 m³ of concrete

Transmission electron microscopy is a high-resolution analytical technique for visualization and examination of materials with a resolution from a µm-range up to atomic scale. For this, high energy electrons pass through extremely thin samples and the occurring interaction is examined.