An active learning approach will be adopted with considerable input from the students own research interests as well as current research articles from international scientific journals.
The course aims at providing a basic theoretical understanding of the principles of electron microscopy. The course will enable the participants to understand and interpret images, diffraction patterns and spectra obtained from both scanning and transmission electron microscopes. Specimen types and problems will be taken from current research in Materials Science and Engineering at DTU and Risø and will cover metals and alloys, ceramics, polymers, composites and nanomaterials. The course participants will exclusively be PhD and final year Master project students. An active learning approach will be adopted with considerable input from the students own research projects.
Kursusindhold:
Following this course the student will have achieved an understanding of the essentials of general electron microscopy and will be able to: o Describe the interaction of energetic electrons with solid matter and clearly differentiate between elastic and inelastic interactions. o Describe a) the types of electron signals that result from these interactions with various forms of matter and b) the principals of electron detection for different signals. o Interpret variations in electron contrast and intensity that result from electron interactions with the specimen and result in an image of the microstructure, both of the specimen surface in the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and of the specimen internal structure in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). o Interpret electron diffraction effects and patterns in both SEM and TEM and relate these patterns to the crystallography of the specimen. o Interpret energy dispersive x-ray spectra (EDS) and electron energy loss spectra (EELS) that result from inelastic collisions of electrons with the specimen in both SEM and TEM and use these to correctly analyse the composition. The taught part of the course will be examined by written exam (open book) and counts for 60%.
In addition, each student will carry out a collaborative study into at least one of the following advanced areas of electron microscopy as it relates to the students own area of materials research interest. This form of study should involve discussion with and guidance from a member of DTU or Risø staff. The results of this work will be presented to all course participants at a mini-symposium at the end of the course. o FEGSEM, FEGTEM, HREM, STEM, EELS, EFTEM, HAADF, EBSD, 3D SEM, 3D TEM, ESEM, ... The collaborative study part of the course counts for 40% of the final grade.
