The Keck Center is located in the Harker Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering (ISE) Laboratory on the UD campus. It houses two 200 kV field emission transmission electron microscopes, Talos F200C and JEM-2010F, a LaB₆ 300kV TEM JEM-3010, an FEI 120kV Tecnai G² 12 Twin transmission electron microscope, two scanning electron microscopes (JSM-7400F and AURIGA^TM 60 CrossBeam^TM with the AURIGA^TM 60 being a FIB-SEM dual beam instrument), and two scanning probe microscopes (Multimode NanoScope V and Dimension 3100 V).

The Talos F200C has the design with an ultra-precision stage and a constant power objective lens system. It provides better than 2.3 Å point-to-point resolution. The peripheral attachments include the scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) for bright field (STEM-BF) imaging, annular dark field (ADF), intermediate and high angle annular dark field (STEM-HAADF) imaging, electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), phase plate and tomography operations. In addition, there are two CMOS based cameras (Ceta and Falcon-II) for high resolution and low dose imaging.

The JEM-2010F FasTEM provides 1.9 Å point resolution and 1.0 Å lattice resolution with an information limit of 0.75 Å. A few peripheral attachments further enhance its analytical capabilities; these include the scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) for both bright field (STEM-BF) imaging and high angle annular dark field (STEM-HAADF) imaging, electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and energy filtered imaging, and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (XEDS).

 The Tecnai G² 12 Twin TEM is facilitated with cryo-TEM and low dose imaging capabilities n addition to conventional imaging and diffraction.

The JSM-7400F field emission scanning electron microscope has a 1 nm resolution at 15 kV and a 1.5 nm resolution at 1 kV. It allows operation in a wide range of beam energies from 0.1 keV to 30 keV, and affords various operation modes, including secondary electron imaging, backscattered electron imaging, gentle beam mode, and imaging with energy filters. An ultrathin window energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (XEDS) detector identifies elements of atomic number greater than four, and offers a 130 eV spectral resolution.

The AURIGA^TM 60 Crossbeam^TM FIB-SEM provides high resolution solutions for nano-tomography, 3-D imaging and analysis, lamellar and thin foil preparation, and nano-patterning. In conjunction with an Axio Imager M2 light microscope, a “Shuttle & Find” correlative microscopy scheme allows the visible light contrasts and information about feature color, size, and morphology obtained by the light microscope to be combined with advanced analytical methods of the AURIGA^TM 60 electron and ion optics for the discovery of new structural and elemental information. Additionally, the view-and-slicing capability of the FIB-SEM extends the opportunities to correlative tomography. The high resolution FIB optics of AURIGA^TM 60, together with its high precision stage, also enables nano-scale patterning or fiducial mark preparation, which can further facilitate other correlative analyses, such as those offered by vibrational spectroscopy.

The Keck Center has over 14 different TEM sample holders, including routine single and double tilt holders, low-background analytical holders, liquid nitrogen cryo-holders and cryo-transfer holders, Protochips Aduro 300 heating & electric holder and Poseidon 500 electrochemical holder, and a Hysitron PI 95 Picoindenter. We have a variety of sample preparation equipment, including 3 ultra-microtomes with cryo-microtomy capabilities, 2 Vitrobot^® stations for TEM sample vitrification and cryo-transfer, dimple devices, ion mills (including a PIPS), sputter coaters, carbon coaters, and a low speed diamond saw.

The Talos F200C, JEM-2010F, AURIGA^TM 60 Crossbeam^TM, and JSM-7400F all allow remote access and control to facilitate classroom teaching or research collaboration.

The laboratory staff and associated faculty members are very knowledgeable in SEM, TEM, and SPM and are experts in advanced microscopy of a wide range of materials. We work with users on campus and other organizations in many areas including research, research training, and consultation.