EMU: Corrective maintenance of Transmission Electron Microscope by the exchange of the camera with upgrade of the image acquisition system for material characterization

• Grant number: 23/17246-4
• Support Opportunities: Research Infrastructure Program - Small Medium Sized
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• End date: August 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Larissa Otubo
• Grantee: Larissa Otubo
• Host Institution: Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (IPEN). Secretaria de Desenvolvimento Econômico (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Antonio Martins Figueiredo Neto ; Osvaldo Augusto Brazil Esteves Sant'Anna

Abstract

This project aims the corrective maintenance of the transmission electron microscope (TEM), installed in the Microscopy and Microanalysis Laboratory (LMM) at IPEN. Transmission electron microscopy analysis are essential in the characterization of materials in several areas, whether biological, engineering, physics, and chemistry, for example. Its wide application reflects its importance in the technological and basic sciences development of projects in these areas, since this technique is capable of imaging a few nanometers structures, determining shapes, size distribution, crystalline structures, analysis of elementary composition, among others. Since its installation, LMM's TEM has contributed to several publications and the development of human resources, in the preparation of several theses and dissertations. However, a vacuum leak was detected in the CCD camera of this microscope, which could lead to damage to parts of the equipment related to the vacuum system, and in the near future, to a compromise the operation of the microscope itself. The currently installed camera no longer has spare parts, which makes it impossible to repair, meaning it will need to be replaced. Replacing the camera will bring the benefit of improving the image acquisition system, as it involves updating of its software, electronic and computational control system, allowing the acquisition of images with higher resolution and digitized electron diffraction patterns, which are not are possible with the current camera. (AU)