Tag Archives: CHANL

CHANL’s Bob Geil Recognized as a Hero in Austria

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In late September, Bob Geil received an email from Stephan Kaseman, a scientist at the FH Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences in Dornbirn, Austria. Stephan’s Deep Reactive Ion Etcher (DRIE) had stopped working after some damaged components were replaced, and he could not find anyone to help him service the system. As a long shot, he reached out to Bob because CHANL has the same DRIE system. Bob shared over 40 screen shots of the DRIE’s configuration files with the Austrian scientist to help troubleshoot! They exchanged emails ~25 more times to gather additional configuration files. After this substantial effort, Stephan recently emailed Bob to let him know that the system was operational again, stating, “I think I’ll print out your photo from the UNC website and stick it to the machine’s control rack, marked with the caption Hero.” Apparently he was not kidding. Congrats to Bob on his elevation to hero status!

 

Rigaku SmartLab X-ray Diffractometer coming soon to CHANL

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CHANL is thrilled to offer powder and thin film x-ray diffraction with a new Rigaku SmartLab X-ray diffractometer (XRD). This system is capable of grazing angle measurements for measuring diffraction from thin films and possesses an in-plane diffraction arm for measuring crystalline planes perpendicular to the sample surface. Samples with periodicity on length scales up to 100 nm can be characterized with the SAXS unit, and micro area measurements with spot sizes as small as 100 μm are also possible.  Rocking curves, pole figures, and reflectivity measurements are all available with this system, which is also equipped with a HyPix-3000 2D detector. A number of sample stages allowing for sample heating and cooling (-100ºC to 1,000ºC) and environmental control (inert atmosphere, vacuum, reactive gas) are available for interesting in situ measurements. The SmartLab Guidance software makes these measurements easy to implement as it guides users to install the correct optical components, and walks them through the appropriate alignments before measurements begin. Powerful analysis software includes access to the ICDD PDF2 database, allows for Rietveld whole pattern fitting, and 2D pattern analysis.

If you would like additional information about this tool, please email Carrie Donley (cdonley@email.unc.edu).

Scientific Art Competition – Submit your image!

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The Chapel Hill Analytical and Nanofabrication Laboratory (CHANL) is hosting its 9th annual Scientific Art Competition! The Scientific Art Competition provides an opportunity to showcase scientific data with artistic appeal. The deadline for submission is March 31, 2017. Submissions should be sent to Dr. Amar Kumbhar (akumbha@gmail.com) along with a submission form.  Anyone can submit to the CHANL scientific art competition, and the work does not need to be produced on CHANL equipment.

This year there will be twelve CASH prizes!
1)  Artist’s Choice: 1st Place: $ 50.00, and 3 finalists: $20.00 each
2)  People’s Choice: 1st Place: $ 50.00, and 3 finalists: $20.00 each
3)  Students’ Choice: 1st Place: $ 50.00, and 3 finalists: $20.00 each

Winners will be announced the week of April 23 at a lunch reception and the CHANL MRS seminar.

Please contact rtnanonetwork@ncsu.edu with questions or concerns.

 

 

RTNN to host a microfluidics workshop

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RTNN is excited to announce an upcoming microfluidic workshop at the Chapel Hill Analytical and Nanofabrication Laboratory (CHANL). This workshop will offer participants the opportunity to learn about patterning structures across different length scales (nm→μm) and become familiar with a number of important application areas – microfluidics and nanofluidics for biological/biomedical applications. There will be lectures covering relevant technological and application areas with on-site visits and demonstrations of relevant equipment. The last day of the workshop will involve a hands-on experience; making a microfluidic device. More details can be found here and on the CHANL website.

Submit your nano images for competitions!

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The Chapel Hill Analytical and Nanofabrication Laboratory (CHANL), an RTNN member facility, is hosting its 8th annual Scientific Art Competition! The Scientific Art Competition provides an opportunity to showcase scientific data with artistic appeal. The deadline for submission is April 1, 2016. Please visit the CHANL website for more information.

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) is also hosting an image competition entitled EnvisioNano. EnvisioNano gives researchers the chance to highlight the beauty they see in nano and describe how their research impacts society. The deadline for submission is May 13, 2016. Please visit the EnvisioNano website for details on how to participate.