Learning outcomes

This course will provide the theoretical basis and knowledge of the current applications of the most important microscopy techniques for the characterization of materials.

At the end of the course the student will be able of:

  • Understand the basic principles of electron microscopy (transmission and scanning) as well as atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM)
  • Understand the principles of certain advanced optical microscopy such as fluorescence microscopy
  • Predict on the basis of a given material what type of information can be obtained using the main microscopy techniques
  • Analyze certain microscopy images to understand the structure or some properties of the solids

 

 

 

Goals

The aim of the course is to give to the student an overview of characterization techniques based on the use of optical and electron microscopy as well as atomic force microscopy. The applications of these techniques to the field of materials chemistry are highlighted via the use of examples coming from the recent literature.

Content

see table of contents

Table of contents

1. Introduction 2. Microscopy.  Why is it important? 3. Different Microscopic techniques: Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) 4. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) 5. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) 6. Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) 7. Some Advanced techniques

Assessment method

Oral exam (discussion) based on an actual example taken from literature. To validate the EU, the student should also prepare a short written work.

To validate the credits of the teaching unit, the student must obtain an average mark of at least 10/20.

The average for the teaching unit is calculated as follows: oral exam (70%), work (30%).

 

Language of instruction

Français