THE NEW RESEARCH EQUIPMENT FOR SURFACE CHARACTERIZATION OF MATERIALS AT THE INSTITUTE OF METALS AND TECHNOLOGY, LJUBLJANA
NOVA RAZISKOVALNA OPREMA ZA RAZISKAVE POVRŠIN TRDNIH SNOVI NA IMT, LJUBLJANA
MONIKA JENKO
Institute of Metals and Technology, Lepi pot 11, Ljubljana, Slovenia
At the INSTITUTE OF METALS AND TECHNOL-OGY, LJUBLJANA is installed a field emission scanning Auger microprobe MICROLAB 310-F of VG Scientific from UK for research of solid surfaces, grain boundaries and phases, micro analysis of materials as well as research of physical phenomena on the free surfaces of metals and inorganic materials: adsorption, segregation of surface active elements, oxidation, corrosion, characterization of thin films, recrystallization, catalysis etc. The new instruments allows the follovving methods:
•	Auger Electron Spectroscopy - AES
•	Scanning Auger Electron Spectroscopy - SAM
•	Secondary Electron Microscopy - SEM
•	Reflected Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy -REELS
• X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy - XPS One of the most important features of Microlab 310-F is its high spatial resolution in both SEM and SAM. It has field emission electron source with very high bright-ness, high performance electron column, very low drift stage simultaneous peak and background acquisition when mapping and image registration softvvare.
Microlab 310-F has a spherical sector analyser which can be operated vvith high energy resolution. Adding a dual anode X-ray source therefore allovvs the instrument to perform high quality XPS analysis. The instrument is fitted vvith high quality ion gun, vvhich allovvs the ability to perform high quality, rapid depth profiles.
The instrument is additionally equipped vvith fracture stage. This device allovvs the fracturing of specially
Figure 2: A view through the monitoring window into the UHV analysis chamber on the sample, electron gun, ion gun and X-Ray source (see cover)
shaped brittle samples in UHV; the stage allows that both halves of the fractured samples can be collected for analysis.
The purchase of instrument was financially supported by industrial partners, research institutes and university:
•	Institute of Metals and Technology; Ljubljana
•	Institute Jožef Štefan, Ljubljana
•	National Institute of Chemistry, Ljubljana
•	Concern Slovenian Steelworks, Ljubljana
•	Nuclear Power Plant Krško
•	Kolektor, Idrija
•	Talum Kidričevo,
•	Impol, Slovenska Bistrica
•	Department for Materials and Metallurgy, University of Ljubljana
•	Centre for TriboIogy and Technical Diagnostic, Fac-ulty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana
The purchase was subsidized by Ministry of Science and Technology of Republic Slovenia.