Mission Statement
The NCSU Analytical Instrumentation Facility (AIF) founded in 1923 as Engineering Research Services is a North Carolina State University resource for materials characterization.  AIF operates a number of major analytical instruments and numerous other instruments providing quality analyses for all who require it.  These instruments are operated and maintained by a professional staff who are experienced in the design and implementation of materials characterization experiments.  For those who desire hands on involvement in their analyses, AIF staff trains users to operate facility analytical instrumentation, to design efficient analytical experiments, and to properly interpret the resulting data.  In addition, AIF staff is involved in the development and/or enhancement of analytical techniques in a continuing effort to provide the level of capabilities required by the ever evolving needs of the NCSU research community.  AIF provides short courses as well as formal classroom instruction to insure that NCSU’s future engineers and scientists can, upon graduation, take with them an understanding of modern analytical techniques and an understanding of the instrumentation required to implement them.

News
MRS/ASM/AVS Meeting Nov 20, 2009
The meeting will be held on Centennial Campus in EB1. For more information or to dwonload the meeting program please follow the link MRS/ASM/AVS Meeting

Equipment Update - TOF SIMS
The AIF has a TOF.SIMS 5 from Ion-TOF installed and ready to use. This state of the art equipment greatly enhances our surface analysis capabilities. For more details about the TOF capabilities please see this pdf link TOF.SIMS 5.

Equipment Update - TEM
The Hitachi HF2000 TEM with an Oxford Inca EDS system is currently up and running. The microscope is equiped with CCD camera for digital acquisition of 2k X 2k images. Contact Roberto Garcia or Dale Batchelor to schedule time.

Results
The AIF was recently written up in an article in RESULTS magazine. The online version of the magazine is posted at this link http://www.ncsu.edu/research/results/.

Courses
AIF HANDS ON COURSES on SIMS, Sample Preparation for Back Side SIMS Analysis, SEM and AFM are now available. Courses, which are tailored to the specific needs of the students and their samples, are limited to two attendees to maximize one on one training and to provide sufficient hands on instrument time.  Course durations, generally 4 to 5 days, can be lengthened or shortened based on the needs of the student.   For more information clcik this AIF Courses link or go to the About Us link and use the Contact Us option to request information and availability.

Microtomy
AIF now offers microtomy services for materials science. The expanding need of structural detail of nanofibers has caused us to venture into this sample preparation area. More information can be found in the article "Sample Preparation for Textile Nanofiber Composites", R. Garcia et al., Microscopy Today Vol 13, No2, pp. 38-40 March 2005.

Events

AREMS Meeing:October 15-16, 2009 Boone, NC

MRS/ASM/AVS Meeting:November 20, 2009 NC State Centennial Campus, EB1