UC home to NZ's first ultra high vacuum microscope
Published by Communications and Development
3 March 2009
A state-of-the-art ultra high vacuum microscope that has been installed in the Physics Department has research scientists abuzz with anticipation.
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Postdoctoral researcher Dr Pawel Kowalczyk uses a manipulator arm on the new McDiarmid vacuum microscope now housed in UC's Physics Department. |
The new microscope is capable of both atomic force and scanning tunnelling microscopy, which means this system has the capability to image atoms. It is the first of its kind in New Zealand.
“We are very excited — this system will enable a whole range of new projects in nanotechnology and will be used by people from around the country,” said Associate Professor Simon Brown (Physics and Astronomy).
The microscope works by passing a very sharp tip over a surface and recording height and position information. As the tip passes back and forward over the sample a 3D image of the surface is created.
The microscope works in a vacuum environment at pressures of 3x10-10mbar — “roughly 1 trillionth of an atmosphere”, Professor Brown said. The vacuum provides an extremely clean environment so as to avoid contamination of the surfaces that are being investigated. The microscope works in the temperature range of -240ºC to +200ºC.
“Often the atomic arrangement on the surface of a specimen is not the same as on the inside, and we can observe these differences using this microscope,” said Professor Brown. “These atomic arrangements are interesting from the point of view of fundamental science, but they are also crucial for real-world applications.”
The microscope will be used to study the arrangements of atoms in nanostructures — building blocks for nanotechnology — as well as to investigate how electrons behave in those structures. Electrons govern the properties of materials or electronic devices created from those building blocks.
“In addition, we are going be able to image single molecules,” Professor Brown said.
Dr Pawel Kowalczyk, who started at UC this month, is a postdoctoral researcher who will be running the machine. Dr Kowalczyk, who is an expert in scanning probe microscopy, said the instrument "provides a world-class capability. It is really exciting to be able to come to New Zealand to work with it”.
The new microscope was bought with funds from the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology. UC is a major partner in the institute which is a Centre of Research Excellence.
For further information please contact:
Jane Lucas
Communications Officer
University of Canterbury
Ph: (03) 364 2987 ext 6072
jane.lucas@canterbury.ac.nz