The analytical platform aimed to bring together expertise in the development of analytical methods and broad analytical resources from different institutions within the ETH domain, industrial partners and other universities. For this purpose it funded projects aimed at the development as well as the purchase of new analytical methods and novel instrumentation, and also supported the exploratory use of existing infrastructures by industrial and academic partners in short, rapid-response projects (rapid analytical projects). With this funding strategy, the platform catered to a wide range of demands concerning nano- and microscale analysis. The projects funded through CCMX in this area were divided into three categories :
Development of New Analytical Tools
Projects targeting the development of new analytical tools, methods or instrumentation for the analysis of physical, chemical, or biological properties on the scale below 100 nm.
- OMNY (tOMography, Nano, crYo stage) led by Mirko Holler, PSI
- Development of a He-Ion Beam Induced Charge scanning system (He-IBIC) led by Urs Sennhauser, Empa
- NanoAir – Online coupling of a scanning mobility particle sizer SMPS to an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer ICP-MS for size fractionated, elemental analysis of nanoparticles in aerosols led by Heinz Vonmont, Empa (since 2015, Davide Bleiner)
Exploitation of Existing Analytical Techniques for Nanoscale Analysis in New Fields of Applications
Projects considered ‘leading-edge’ in the sense that the performance of the analytical method cannot be firmly predicted.
- Ultrasensitive sensing transducer based on Fano interferences in plasmonic metamaterials (FANOSENSE) led by Olivier Martin, EPFL
- Argon-cluster as primary ion source in time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS)—method development by ToF-SIMS and atomic force microscopy (AFM) led by Laetititia Bernard, Empa
Development or installation of cutting-edge materials characterisation methods or analytical tools
- QuadProbe FIB—an analytical FIBSEM microscope integrating ion, electron, X-ray, and laser beams for microanalysis in materials research, led by Johann Michler, Empa
- Neutron Microscope led by Eberhard Lehmann, PSI
- Inductively coupled Plasma Focused Ion Beam (PFIB) system at ETH Zurich led by Roger Wepf, ETH Zurich