TEM Sample Preparation Short Course June 2025

TEM Sample Preparation Short Course

The Center for Materials, Devices, and Integrated Systems is offering an opportunity for students and faculty to take part in a practical course on sample prep for Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). 

Participants will have the option to practice sample preparation using materials from their own project, followed by imaging the prepared sample in TEM. 

Program Structure

1. Lectures cover a wide range of sample preparation techniques & materials (location: J-ROWL 1C13)
   • June 17, 2025 9:00 am - 12:00 pm (lunch will be provided)
     • TEM brief intro and the requirements for samples (K. Dovidenko)
     • FIB intro and physics of beam-material interaction (C. Yang)
     • FIB sample preparation and lift-out process with movies and examples (M.D. Frey)
     • Broad-beam Ar milling approaches (cross-sectional & plane-view), including mechanical steps such as disc cutting, polishing, and dimpling (K. Dovidenko)
     • Electro-chemical sample preparation approaches (C. Yang)
     • Other derivative techniques and examples (K. Dovidenko)
     • Bio samples (M.D. Frey) 
2. Practical sessions (will require sign up)
   • June 17, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm; June 24-26 9:00 am - 5:00 pm (lunch will be provided)
     • FIB (locations: CII MNCR and MRC 151)
     • Polished cross-section and plan-view (location: MRC 166)
     • H-bar sample prep (location: MRC 166)
     • TEM imaging of sample prepared during this short course (location: MRC 166)
3. July 1 will be a makeup day

Application Deadline: 06/14, Wednesday, 5pm

Admission Requirements:
1. Any RPI undergraduate, graduate student and faculty who has an interest in the field.
2. The capacity for this initial course is limited to 25 participants.

Registration:

https://webforms.rpi.edu/tem-sample-preparation-short-course

Questions:
Registration: Katharine Dovidenko, Director, Nanoscale Characterization Core (dovidk2@rpi.edu)