Tampere Microscopy Center (TMC) provides instruments, training and services for researchers in Tampere University, in other research institutes and in industry. Our goal is to train our users to work independently and offer support to help them become experts.
Tampere Microscopy Center offers versatile selection of instruments to help you get to know your samples inside out.
High resolution TEM/STEM suitable for very thin samples (<100 nm) able to provide atomic scale (0.1 nm) information on the structure and chemical composition (ED, EDS, EELS).
Jeol Dual EDS system and Gatan Enfinium EELS.
Holders: double-tilt, tomography, heating and cryo
Contact: Mari Honkanen
High resolution SEM for material characterization. Provides information on surface topography SEM/STEM with resolution down to 1 nm. Analysis of elemental composition (Oxford Instruments X-MaxN 80 EDS) and crystallography (Oxford Instruments Symmetry CMOS EBSD).
Imaging detectors: ET, Inlens, ASB, ESB, STEM
Contact: Mari Honkanen
High resolution SEM with focused ion beam for nano/micromilling of materials. Imaging resolution of 1 nm and processing resolution of few nanometers.
The system enables cross-sectioning, 3D imaging and 3D EDS (Oxford Instruments X-MaxN 80) analysis, nanopatterning, TEM lamella preparation. Includes manipulators suitable for electron beam induced current (EBIC) measurements.
Imaging detectors: ET, Inlens, ESB, STEM
Contact: Turkka Salminen
Variable pressure Tungsten-filament SEM with EDS, Jeol IT500 (In Konetalo 2nd floor, contact Mari Honkanen)
Tungsten-filament SEM with EDS, Tescan Vega (In TMC, contact Turkka Salminen)
Zeiss Ultra55 FE-SEM with Raith e-beam lithography Reserved for e-beam and clean room users (In TUT Clean Room, contact Turkka Salminen)
LEO 1450 SEM with Alemnis In-situ Nanoindenter Reserved for in situ materials testing (In TMC, contact Gaurav Mohanty)
Comparison table of our SEMs to help you choose the right tool for your samples: https://research.tuni.fi/microscopy/sem-comparison/
Raman spectroscopy is based on inelastic scattering of monochromatic light. The measured spectra give information about the chemical bonds and crystal lattice vibrations in the sample.
Available excitation lasers 405 nm, 532 nm and 785 nm.
Confocal microscope allows 2D and 3D mapping.
Sample temperature can be varied from -79 °C to 600 °C.
Contact: Turkka Salminen
Comprehensive sample preparation equipment for EM studies (cross-section polisher, ion polisher, electrolytical polisher, coating equipment, plasma cleaning)
The Microscopy center staff mainly trains people to use the instruments independently and provides support and training. We can also help you analyse your sample especially in cases where you need the more advanced techniques (TEM, FIB).
Please find the detailed policies depending on your affiliation
Please contact the Microscopy Center staff at tmc [at] tuni.fi to learn more about analysing your samples with us.
The Microscopy center staff mainly trains people to use the instruments independently and provides support and training. We can also help you analyse your sample especially in cases where you need the more advanced techniques (TEM, FIB).
When publishing results obtained at the Microscopy Center, please mention this in the acknowledgements, prefereably using the following phrase:
“This work made use of Tampere Microscopy Center facilities at Tampere University.”
We request that you send a PDF copy of all such articles upon publication to tmc [at] tuni.fi.
This allows us to monitor our contribution to the research community and helps us to gather funding to acquire new equipment.
Potential new users should contact the microscopy center staff responsible for the instrument they are interested in to get detailed information on the training requirements and procedure. If you are interested in getting access to an SEM but don’t know which one, please contact tmc [at] tuni.fi. To speed up the process and help us tailor the training to match your needs, new users are encouraged to provide the following information when contacting the staff:
New users for any electron microscope should first pass the course MOL-32228 Electron Microscopy or provide study records and course descriptions for previously completed studies of similar level performed elsewhere.
Users with substantial hands-on experience with electron microscopes can fulfil the requirements with description of said experience and demonstration during the training session. The SEM you will be trained on will depend on your needs and possible previous experience.
Typically, analysis techniques such as EDS or EBSD require an additional training session after the new user has become accustomed to the basic imaging with the SEM.
For researchers at Tampere University the use of the instruments is free. Advanced analysis that requires an operator from the Microscopy center staff is free for testing of new ideas but for systematic analysis, a project number for work time allocation is required. We encourage research group leaders to contact us already when planning a new project that will make use of the instruments and staff in the microscopy center.
