2022-11-07 ScopeM - CCMX Course

Course overview

Material Characterization is an indispensable part of any technological development and any research. The fabrication of new materials, the optimization of existing solutions to specific purposes, analyses of material failure, etc. – all rely on establishing and understanding the intrinsic interconnection between the material build-up and its performance.

The large body of material characterization techniques uses radiation as a tool. Laboratory instruments and large-scale facilities such as synchrotrons employ electrons, neutrons, x-rays or ions to irradiate a specimen and analyze the outcome. Elastic and inelastic interactions of radiation and the matter result in scattering of primary radiation or generation of secondary signals. The resolute detection and understanding of the nature of events are fundamental for the instrumentation, the usage and, most importantly, for data interpretation.

The main goal of this course is, therefore, to present the bulk of the information on radiation-based techniques regularly employed for material characterization in physics, material science and technology. The course is composed of lectures and demonstrations on the instruments given by experts in the field. Electron microscopy in all its richness of methods (TEM, STEM, SEM, in-situ-TEM, cryo-TEM, etc.), Auger Spectroscopy, X-ray and Raman scattering, Optical Spectroscopy and Microscopy, Mass-Spectroscopy and Atom Probe Tomography, Secondary Ion Mass-Spectrometry – are techniques presented at the course.

The fundamentals, workflow, limitations, and advantages of each technique over a possible alternative are supported by extensive information on the specimen preparation routines that ensure the reliability of a corresponding data set. The complexity of data evaluation routes, the available solutions and open-source algorithms are presented in the lectures and demonstrated during the instrumental visits.

Advanced, most up-to-date experimental developments in each field are presented and discussed during the course. The lecturers and the instrument visit scientists are open to discussions on your specific scientific questions and welcome you to contact them also after the course with your scientific needs.

Date and Location

7th – 10th November 2022, ETHZ Hönggerberg, TBA

Course fee

PhD students from EPFL, ETH Zurich, PSI, Empa and CSEM: 480 CHF
PhD students from other institutions and other academic participants: 780 CHF
All other participants: 2'000 CHF

Programme, registration and further information

For the programme, registration and further information please visit external page this page.