Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy (CCEM)

What the facility does

Materials characterization and consultation to determine structural and compositional information on the micron to nano/atomic-scale using electron and ion microscopy.

Areas of expertise

The Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy (CCEM) is a one-stop solution to materials characterization problems. Our experienced and dedicated staff are here to help determine structural and compositional information of material through their advanced knowledge in electron microscopy. Not only does the CCEM offer a suite of electron microscopes and sample preparation space that can be used for characterization needs, but our staff members are fully equipped and available to train users, acquire various data, prepare characterization reports, and consult on user’s specific questions.

As a user’s facility we offer training services on our instruments, or if preferred, we can perform full sample characterization starting from sample preparation to final results. To facilitate our user’s learning experience and networking, we also host various tutorials and workshops throughout the year. Our vision is to be one of the leading electron microscopy facilities in the world for the quality of the scientific research and for promoting interactions amongst researchers in various fields nationally and internationally.

Research services

Material analytical services including: data acquisition and processing/interpretation, sample preparation, user material/instrument consultation, user training/education.

Sectors of application

Aerospace and satellites

Automotive

Chemical industries

Clean technology

Defence and security industries

Energy

Environmental technologies and related services

Information and communication technologies and media

Manufacturing and processing

Mining, minerals and metals

Specialized labs and equipment

Equipment	Function
FEI Magellan 400 Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)	Extreme high-resolution Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) with sub-nanometer resolution, operates at 1 to 30 keV. Oxford Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) system
JEOL JSM-7000F Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)	Equipped with a Schottky field emission gun offers high resolution and large probe currents at small probe diameters permitting characterization of nano-scale structures A multipurpose specimen chamber, motorized specimen stage, single-action specimen exchange and an ideal geometry for techniques such as Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), Electron Backscattered Diffraction (EBSD) and electron-beam lithography Resolution of 1.2 nm at 30 keV and 3.0 nm at 1 keV Integrated Oxford Instruments X-Maxⁿ50 mm²Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) detector and Nordlys II Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) Camera with AZtec EDS/EBSD software plus HKL Channel EBSD post-processing software for the simultaneous acquisition of elemental (Boron and higher Z-number elements) and crystal orientation data
JEOL 6610LV Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)	Tungsten filament equipped Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) with selectable low vacuum mode that allows for the analysis of non-conductive specimens without the need for heavy-metal coating Large chamber which enables observation of specimens up to 200 mm in diameter Resolution of 3.0 nm at 30 keV makes it possible to view secondary electron and backscattered composition images simultaneously
Thermo Scientific Spectra Ultra Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)	Double aberration-corrected Transmission Electron Microscope/Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM/STEM) that can operate at multiple accelerating voltages to allow imaging of a variety of materials, including beam-sensitive samples X-Field Emission Gun (X-FEG) Ultimono source 30 keV, 60 keV, 200 keV, 300 keV Monochromator Corrected Electron Optical Systems GmbH (CEOS) hexapole aberration correctors on image- and probe-forming lenses Super-Twin prime objective lens Gatan Imaging Filter (GIF) Continuum HR (<0.1 eV resolution) Gatan Quantum K3 direct electron detector Ultra-X EDS detector Single- and double-tilt holders, tomography holder, cryo-holder, heating holder
FEI Titan 80-300 LB Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)	Image-corrected High-resolution Transmission Electron Microscope/Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (HRTEM/STEM) that operates at 80 keV, 200 keV and 300 keV X-Field Emission Gun (X-FEG) source Monochromator Large-gap Cryo-Twin objective lens Corrected Electron Optical Systems GmbH (CEOS) hexapole aberration corrector on the image-forming lens Gatan Quantum Spectrometer (<0.1 eV resolution) Gatan Quantum K2 direct electron detector Single- and double-tilt holders, tomography holder, cryo-holder, heating holder, liquid cell holder
Thermo Scientific Talos L120C Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)	General purpose analytical TEM, with a lanthanum hexaboride (LaB₆) filament operating at 120 keV.
Thermo Scientific Talos F200X Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM)	TEM/STEM with capabilities ranging from nano-beam and convergent beam diffraction to high-resolution phase contrast and energy-filtered imaging Super-X quad-EDS (energy-dispersive) detectors Gatan Spectrometer for electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) Single- and double-tilt holders, in-situ liquid electrochemistry holder
Thermo Scientific Helios 5 DualBeam Focused Ion Beam Scanning Electron Microscope (FIB-SEM)	Dualbeam gallium ions (Ga⁺) instrument combining a Schottky field emission Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) with a focused beam of gallium ions (Ga⁺) Field-Emission Gun (FEG) electron column enhanced by an UniColore (UC+, second generation chromatic aberration corrector) Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) with a silicon drift detector
Thermo Scientific Helios G4 UXe DualBeam Plasma-Focused Ion Beam (FIB)	An inductively coupled xenon ion (Xe⁺) plasma (ICP) source with an ion current that can reach as high as 2.5 µA Field-Emission Gun (FEG) electron column enhanced by an UniColore (UC+, second generation chromatic aberration corrector) 3D Focused Ion Beam (FIB) tomography of large volumes
Cameca LEAP 5000X XS Atom Probe Tomography (APT)	3D analysis of materials at the sub-nanometer scale Ultraviolet laser (355 nm wavelength) Analyses include dopants in semiconductors, alloying elements, concentration profiles with atomic sensitivity and clustering
JEOL JAMP-9500F Field Emission Auger (FE-Auger)	The field emission Auger microprobe is a high-sensitivity instrument for surface analysis Minimum probe diameter of 8 nm, and high energy resolution Hemispherical electrostatic energy analyser with a large acceptance angle and a multi-channel detector, elements can be detected with concentrations as low as 0.2 atomic % Incorporated Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Energy-dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) In-situ ion gun, allowing depth profiling to a depth of a few hundred nanometers
Zeiss Crossbeam 350 Laser	Dual beam gallium ions (Ga⁺) instrument combining a Schottky field emission Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) with a focused beam of gallium ions (Ga⁺) Femtosecond machining laser in airlock, capable of rapid material ablation, precisely controlled via SEM pattern mapping 3D Focused Ion Beam (FIB) tomography
Zeiss Orion NanoFab microscope	Dual beam microscope with He/Ne gas field ion source as the primary beam, and Ga focused ion beam as the secondary.
Thermo Scientific Quattro S Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM)	Secondary electron microscope (SEM) with field emission source, also equipped with differential pumping and pressure controlled apertures, as well as gaseous detectors for operation in environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) mode Low vacuum and ESEM mode pressures up to 4kPa EDS detector Cooling stage High vacuum heating stage (1000 C)
Nion HERMES Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM)	Ultrahigh energy resolution (< 5 meV) monochromated scanning transmission electron microscope.