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University of Montana Researchers Receive State-Of-The-Art Microscope

The University of Montana is the recent recipient of a VEGA-3 Variable Pressure Scanning Electron Microscope, which will be installed in a Clapp Building lab on Wednesday, Sept. 12, by an engineer of the TESCAN company.

The $425,000 microscope is funded primarily by the National Science Foundation’s Major Research Instrumentation program and will allow UM researchers to look at objects at the micron and nanometer scale. The microscope uses electrons instead of light to magnify objects tens of thousands of times, magnifying one-millionth to one-billionth of a meter.

The instrument also features several special detectors that can capture other types of images. For example, researchers can spatially map the individual chemical elements in a sample, obtain precise information about the chemical composition of materials at a particular spot, spatially map mineral distribution in a rock or look at the orientation of crystal lattices of individual minerals in geological samples. It essentially integrates surface imaging, chemistry and crystallography into a single tool.

Full Story: http://news.umt.edu/2012/09/091112micr.aspx

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