The MCF staff can assist users in preparing samples for the following techniques: 

• carbon evaporation (Cressington 108A carbon coater, Quorum Q-150 T ES)
• gold / palladium sputter coating (60:40 Au/Pd alloy; Hummer V sputter coater system)
• UV / ozone cleaning (SEM: Hitachi ZoneSEM)
• UV/ ozone cleaning (TEM:  Hitachi ZoneTEM)
• vacuum oven (drying / driving off solvent)
• IR heat lamp (sample outgassing / adhesive curing) 

The MCF provides some types of SEM sample stubs and adhesive materials (e.g. carbon dots, carbon tape, copper tape, colloidal graphite / carbon paint, silver paint, high-temperature nickel paste, etc).  

The following tools modify bulk samples to have the optimum size, shape, and surface finish for imaging and analysis 

• Gatan:
  • Dimpler - Mechanical thinning for TEM sample prep
  • Precision Ion Polishing System (PIPS) - Fine finishing for TEM samples.
• Hitachi:
  • IM-4000 Ion Mill - 3keV Ar Ion mill for EM sample preparation, cross-sectioning, and surface polishing
  • Hummer 6 sputterer - Au target - For Au coating of SEM samples
• Quorum:
  • Q-150T ES - Metal evaporator and C sputter coater for SEM samples
  • Q-150V ES Plus - Metal evaporator and C sputter coater for SEM samples w/ UHV option for Cr coating
  • Q-150V ES Plus Sputter coater - for rapid preparation of low conductivity samples for electron microscopy imaging
• Struers - Automatic grinding system
• Vibremet 2 - Vibratory polisher