Ontario (Canada) - Canada's McMaster University has received a stunning new piece of equipment - the world's most powerful electron microscope. John Preston, director of McMaster's Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research said, "The resolution of the Titan 80-300 Cubed microscope is remarkable, the equivalent of the Hubble Telescope looking at the atomic level instead of at stars and galaxies. With this microscope we can now easily identify atoms, measure their chemical state and even probe the electrons that bind them together."




The Hubble of the atomic


This new microscope pushes the very limits of physics to peer into the smallest of known particles, making even surface structures of only nanometers high look like mountain ranges. Its capabilities are added to Ontario's growing list of nanotechnology-based equipment, including a "Titan cryo-in situ," which is essentially another lesser form of electron and laser microscope, though still amazingly powerful.



According to Mo Elbestawi, McMaster's vice-president for Research and Internal affairs, "The addition of the Titan 80-300 Cubed ... solidifies Ontario's and Canada's lead in nanotechnology, and places us among the world's most advanced materials research institutions."





Additional equipment at McMaster

The university houses existing equipment that includes analytical transmission electron microscopes (models JEOL 2010F STEM and VG HB601 Cryo), conventional TEM (model Philips CM12), scanning electron microscopes (models Philips 515, JEOL 7000F, Focused Ion Beam and Zeiss NVision40) and scanning probe microscopy (models Digital Instruments Nanoscope III, Light Microscopes, Zeiss Axioplan, Nikon Confocal Microscope, and Leica metallographic light microscope with Clemex Digital Image Analysis System -- say that 10 times fast).


Titan maker



A firm called "FEI Company" built the Titan 80-300 Cubed microscope in the Netherlands, and delivered it to Canada, for the paltry $15 million, a relatively low sum considering recent physics expenses like the Large Hadron Collider and its estimated $2 billion over 10 years.



The microscope is so sensitive that even the minute changes in temperature resulting from a nearby operator's breath and body heat would distort the accuracy. As a result, the operator of this room-sized device is actually seated outside in a separate room.



The temperature, humidity, pressure and several other factors relating to vibrations and vibratory harmonics are all maintained squelched and at a consistent level to aid in the phenomenal accuracy of this device.





Focus on the everyday



The Titan 80-300 Cubed will focus its nano-gazing abilities into several everyday items. Specifically listed are its role in studying nanostructures for more efficient solar cells, better protein and drug delivery systems for pharmaceutical companies. In addition, stronger and lighter materials for automobiles, better cosmetics and higher density memory storage for faster and lower power electronic devices will all be researched.





Funding



It's interesting to note that funding for this microscope came almost exclusively from outside the university. Specifically, the $15 million cost of development, delivery and installation came from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Innovation Trust, the Ministry of Research and Innovation of Ontario and the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, though through a partnership with FEI Company and McMaster University.