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New Users of the JEOL JEM 3200FS
Before proceeding with the training on the instrument, all new users of the JEOL JEM 3200FS will need to do the following things:
- Talk to the Electron Microscopy Center staff about the overall use of the JEOL JEM 3200FS and the specifics of any project that requires its use. This discussion often takes place before any official training of a user starts and needs to be initiated using an iLab request for consultation.
As part of an iLab request for consultation, we currently require a brief introduction to a project: any useful background information (including references to similar work), specific goals for the project, the state of sample(s) to be examined, expectations for time (including benchmarks along the way), any direct involvement of the staff in a particular project, etc. The iLab request and responses from the staff serve to clarify the project and how it should be accomplished.
In other cases, users from groups that routinely need capabilities that are only available on the 3200FS can simply request 3200FS training (again using iLab). - Before using the 3200FS for any purpose, you must receive training on both the JEOL JEM 1010 electron microscope and the JEOL JEM 1400plus in Myers Hall. Contact Barry Stein at bstein@indiana.edu for further information about initial training to use the 1010 and also make a training request through iLab. After training with the 1010 and the 1400plus, users who request training on the 3200FS must show proficiency with the 1400plus and a need for capabilities that only the 3200FS can provide. Remember that any and all projects that can be accomplished using the 1010 or the 1400plus should be done with those instruments: the cost to users and PI's is significantly lower for those instruments, and this policy also helps ensure that there is adequate time on the 3200FS to do the work that only it can accomplish.
- Request training on the 3200FS using iLab. This training will occur in several short (~2 hr) blocks of time where new users will initially familiarize themselves with operation of the 3200FS and then with operation of the cameras and detectors attached to the 3200FS. This initial training is likely to involve 4 or 5 two-hr blocks and is intended to teach users how to operate the 3200FS under normal imaging conditions. More advanced training (including microscope alignment, minimal dose imaging, cryoTEM, STEM, EELS, EDX and STEM combined with EELS and/or EDX) will also be available to interested users. This additional training will be at the staff's discretion and will involve additional blocks of time.
- In addition, once you are ready to start using the 3200FS, obtain a computer account on Karst. This account on Karst will give you access to the area where the 3200FS stores all the data (images, spectra, etc.). The IU computer clusters including Karst are part of the High Performance Systems group of IU's Research Technologies division and can be used for image analysis and processing. The programs initially installed on the clusters are aimed at data collected for cryoTEM and tomography, but we will add additional software when and if it becomes useful.
NOTE: An overview of computing at IU that includes descriptions of Karst and other computing facilities can be found in the IU Advanced Cyberinfrastructure documentation. - In order to minimize the carbon contamination inside the 3200FS, grids for normal EM applications using the 3200FS should have a pure carbon support film (not formvar, carbon/formvar or any other sort of plastic layer backing the carbon). If you already have grids containing plastic layers, the plastic can be removed. In addition, you can make pure carbon support films using the carbon evaporator in the Myers Hall EM facility (contact Barry Stein at bstein@indiana.edu for training to use this device) or you can purchase pre-made EM grids with pure carbon support films from EM supply companies such as:
It is also possible to use support films made from silicon nitride or silicon monoxide, again with the caveat that if such grids also contain plastic support layers, the plastic will need to be removed whenever possible.