The National Science Foundation has provided a $150,000 grant to the University of Louisville in Kentucky for an atomic force microscope and a white-light scanning interferometric microscope.
The two instruments will complement a new scanning electron microscope, providing three-dimensional shapes of ultrasmall objects approaching the scale of individual atoms. The $340,000 analytical imaging facility will feature several high-resolution instruments, allowing users to see materials up to 5000 times smaller than is possible with light microscopes.
The instruments, which will be housed in a new academic building on the college campus, will support several federally funded projects.