Materials Research Activities

Scientific instruments: general

Scientific Instruments: general

There are a great many scientific instruments in use in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), and a lot of them have developed greatly during the second half of the 20th century. Perhaps the greatest development in the last 20 years has been the application of computer technology to instrumentation. Computers are of use both in data analysis, but also in precision positioning of instrumentation and sample. A great deal of measurement work has been automated, and as a result many instruments have found their way out of the laboratories and into industrial production. There has also been a reduction in cost which has contributed to the very same development.

The following table is intended to give a sense of the variety of instrumentation. You may have an opinion on the representativeness of this table for MSE - after all it focuses upon instruments for surface science and leaves out techniques such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and many chemical techniques. If you do, please let us know your opinion.

Radiation In
photon photon electron ion neutron
Radiation Detected
electron photon electron ion neutron
Kind of information          
Physical topography    

Scanning Electron Microscope

Scanning Tunneling Microscope

   
Chemical composition Electron spectroscopy   Auger Electron Spectroscopy

Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy

Ion Scattering Spectrometry

 
Chemical structure Electron spectroscopy

Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure

Infrared Spectroscopy

Electron Energy Loss Spectrometry Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Inelastic Neutron Scattering
Atomic structure   Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure

Low Energy Electron Diffraction

Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction

Ion Scattering Spectrometry  
Adsorbate bonding  

Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure

Infrared Spectroscopy

Electron Energy Loss Spectrometry Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Inelastic Neutron Scattering

We would like to create webpages on the following instrument topics:

Do you want to suggest anything else?

This page was written and last updated on 12 April 2001 by Arne Hessenbruch.