The instrument is one of its kind in the entire state of Gujarat and is one of the few such facilities in the country; the instrument will allow IITGN researchers to look and unravel material behaviour close to atomic level.
Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) recently inaugurated a state-of-the-art Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) facility on its campus. Installed at a total cost of about Rs. 12 crore, this facility is one of its kind in the entire state of Gujarat and is one of the few such microscopes in the country.

Transmission Electron Microscope uses high energy electron beams to image material at a very high magnification. With advanced electromagnetic lenses, it can magnify objects up to 1 million times of its actual size. These images can offer detailed information about the size, shape and morphological details of the materials.

Inauguration of this ultramodern TEM facility at IIT Gandhinagar has opened new scopes of modern research opportunities for the faculty, research scholars, and students in and outside IIT Gandhinagar.

Giving more information about installation of the TEM facility, Prof Abhay Gautam, Assistant Professor, Materials Science and Engineering, IITGN, and who leads this project said, “This instrument demands extremely stringent environmental stability in terms of electromagnetic interference, ground vibration, acoustic, and thermal fluctuation in order to achieve such a high resolution and study material structure and property with atomic precision. It is a tough task, but IITGN succeeded in installing and establishing this specially designed lab on its own in less than 8 months’ time, which testifies to the commitment and capacity of IITGN’s technical and non- technical support system.”

Modern equipment and tools are essential to quality research that meets global standards. We at IITGN always strive to provide one of the best research facilities to our faculty and students to boost their research capabilities. Keeping up with IITGN’s inclusive policy, where any knowledge-seeker can come to IITGN to take up a semester course, make use of the vast reading resources from our library and work in other technical labs, the facility will also be open for external users, both academia and the industry. We are sure that this latest research facility will lead to scientific discoveries that will help solve various challenges of the society. Prof Sudhir K Jain

Director, IIT Gandhinagar

Salient features of the machine:
It is capable of performing multiple analyses over the length scales ranging from micrometer to sub-nanometer. The immediate use of the instrument will be to observe structural features with an ultimate resolution of a single column of atoms, determining chemical compositions with sub-nanometer resolution, high speed (more than 300 frames per second) imaging to record fast events.

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