Research at the IIN is supported by world-class instrumentation housed in 55 core and shared facilities. To date, the IIN has purchased over $20 million worth of major instrumentation housed in many of these shared facilities through successful federal and state grants.
Select core facilities of special interest to those working at the nanoscale are listed below by category.
Located on Northwestern’s Evanston campus, Ryan Hall is one of the first federally and privately funded facilities of its kind in the world.Biological Imaging Facility (BIF)
Provides advanced light microscopes. Users can prepare samples, capture and analyze images, and create final presentations in one facility. Training for most instruments is available on a regular basis.
Center for Advanced Molecular Imaging (CAMI)
Provides access to modalities suitable for imaging objects at the nanometer scale up to the whole animal scale. These include magnetic resonance, nuclear (positron emission tomography, single photon emission computed tomography, and computerized tomography), and in vivo bioluminescence and fluorescence imaging. Animal housing and prep spaces and tissue culture areas are also available.
High Throughput Analysis Laboratory (HTA)
Provides expertise and resources for large scale biology, including drug discovery, biochemistry, and cell and organismal biology research, functional genomic screening, and synthetic genetic analysis. Capabilities for working with proteins, nucleic acids, small model organisms, and microbial strains.
Keck Biophysics Facility
Provides access to a collection of advanced instruments and services for the biophysical characterization of macromolecules and their interactions.
BioCryo Facility
Provides a comprehensive source for the characterization of biological, soft matter, and hybrid samples with TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy), SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), and STEM (Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy) at cryogenic or ambient temperatures.
Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Laboratory (CNM)
Provides expertise, instrumentation, and infrastructure for interdisciplinary nanoscience and nanotechnology research.
DuPont, Northwestern, Dow Collaborative Access Team (DND-CAT)
State-of-the-art x-ray facility for performing materials research and solving scientific and industrial problems, located in Sector 5 of the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.
Electron Probe Instrumentation Center (EPIC)
Houses instruments for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Includes scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), focused-ion beam (FIB), and specimen preparation facility (SPF).
Integrated Molecular Structure Education and Research Center (IMSERC)
Supports research in molecular characterization, drug discovery, materials science, environmental research, translational medical research, nanotechnology, chemical biology, catalysis, pharmacokinetics, clinical research, and molecular imaging.
Jerome B. Cohen X-ray Diffraction Facility
Provides general-purpose equipment for x-ray scattering and fluorescence studies as well as equipment for non-routine experiments, such as special attachments for high temperatures, vacuum or protective atmospheres, monochromators, and special linear and area detectors.
Keck Interdisciplinary Surface Science (Keck-II) Center
Hosts time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, confocal Raman, and 3D optical microscopy. A high-resolution stylus profilometer, a spectroscopic ellipsometer, and a Zetasizer are available.
Life Sciences Collaborative Access Team (LS-CAT)
Provides macromolecular crystallography resources for protein structure determination; mainly provides access to state-of-the-art x-ray diffraction facilities at Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source, where extremely intense beams of x-rays are focused using both mirrors and beryllium lenses onto tiny protein crystals.
Materials Characterization and Imaging Facility
Offers a broad range of characterization and sample preparation equipment, including optical microscopy, thermal imaging, thermal analysis (DSC, TGA), hardness testing (Vicker’s, Knoop, Rockwell), and electronic (Hall effect, impedance spectroscopy, Kelvin probe, charge transport), and rheological characterization. Tube and box furnaces with temperature ranges up to 1,700 °C are available for thermal processing.
Materials Processing & Microfabrication Facility
Devoted to materials processing, growth, device fabrication, and characterization and electronic and photonic materials.
Northwestern University Atomic and Nanoscale Characterization Experimental (NUANCE) Center
Provides state-of-the-art and core analytical characterization instrumentation resources with 24/7 access. Also offers hands-on training, education, collaboration, and outreach.
Northwestern University Center for Atom Probe Tomography
Specializes in high-resolution chemical imaging by 3D atom-probe tomography; particularly suited to the study of nano- or nanostructured materials.
Northwestern University Micro/Nano Fabrication Facility (NUFAB)
Central micro/nano fabrication facility providing a whole range of nanofabrication equipment and technical expertise.
Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) Core Facility
Provides a means of growing thin films of metals and oxides ranging from a nanometer to a micron thick. The facility contains a state-of-the-art PVD PLD/MBE 2300 with high pressure reflection high-energy electron diffraction capabilities.
Scanned Probe Imaging and Development (SPID)
Provides a wide range of imaging instrumentation and support facilities for atomic to molecular imaging and supports a broad range of nanoscale science and technology characterization needs by providing state-of-the-art resources coupled with expert staff.
Surface Science Facility
Provides multiple-technique characterization of a variety of surfaces with regard to atomic structure, surface chemical composition, and chemical bonding characteristics.