About Elecmi

ELECMI – Integrated Infrastructure for Electronic Microscopy of Materials

The Integrated Infrastructure for Electron Microscopy of Materials, ELECMI, is a Unique Scientific and Technical Infrastructure (ICTS) within the current Map of National Facilities in Spain, which is composed of 29 ICTS that bring together a total of 65 facilities. ELECMI is composed of four facilities: the CNME (National Center for Electron Microscopy) that belongs to Complutense University of Madrid; the LMA (Advanced Microscopy Laboratory) that belongs to Zaragoza Universit; the DME (Electronic Microscopy Division), that belongs to Cadiz University and the UMEAP (Electron Microscopy Unit Applied to Materials) that belongs to the Barcelona University.

ICTS refers to facilities, resources or services for the development of top-quality cutting-edge research, as well as the communication, exchange and preservation of knowledge, the transfer of technology and promotion of innovation. ELECMI as well as other ICTS have these three fundamental characteristics:

Infrastructure with public ownership.
Unique, meaning that it is the only one of its kind in the country.
Open to competitive access by users in the entire research community (public and private sectors from any nationality).

It is therefore the aim of ELECMI to provide competitive access to our instruments along with support and sound advice based on the technical skills and expertise from our specialist team.

CNME ELECMI – National Center for Electron Microscopy
The National Center for Electron Microscopy, CNME, the main transversal action of the Campus of International Excellence, Moncloa, is designed according to the study carried out by FECYT on Unique Scientific and Technological Facilities (ICTS) to develop, implement and offer the scientific community, national and international, the most advanced methods and techniques in Transmission and Scanning Electron Microscopy for the structural analysis of materials. This Center consists of a set of last generation microscopes, and instruments and techniques for the advanced preparation of samples, as well as for the application of computational methods of image processing.
Certificate ISO 9001:2015 granted to the CNME

LMA ELECMI – Advanced Microscopy Laboratory
The Advanced Microscopy Laboratory, LMA, is integrated into the Río Ebro campus of Zaragoza University. It’s a unique initiative at national and international levels aimed at providing the Industrial and Scientific communities with the most advanced infrastructures in Nanofabrication, Local Probe and Electron Microscopies for the observation, characterization, nanopatterning and handling of materials at atomic and molecular scale.

DME ELECMI – Electronic Microscopy Division
The Electron Microscopy Division, DME, is integrated into the Central Services of Science and Technology (SC-ICYT) of Cádiz University. The infrastructure has a staff of technical personnel highly specialized in techniques such as microscopy of corrected aberrations (TEM, STEM), electron tomography and electron loss spectroscopy (EELS) and Dispersive X-ray energy (EDX). The main DME-UCA priorities are education, training and dissemination of innovative techniques and methods based on transmission electron microscopy and electron microscopy applicability to materials applied research.

UMEAP ELECMI – Electron Microscopy Unit Applied to Materials
The Unit of Electron Microscopy Applied to Materials (UMEAP-UB) is integrated in the Scientific and Technological Centers of the University of Barcelona (CCITUB). It has highly specialized personnel in transmission electron microscopy characterization techniques and related analytical techniques (EELS and EDXS spectroscopy), as well as advanced data processing and simulation. They have beam precession systems (for 3D electronic diffraction, electronic crystallography, recognition of crystalline phases and orientation and tension maps) and specific specimen holders for in-situ microscopy and electron tomography. They also offer TEM and SEM microscopy techniques for biological material (Cryo-Tomography, In-Situ Hybridization, etc.), and a wide selection of complementary characterization techniques, such as microprobes, X-ray diffractometers, Raman microscopy, ESCA, AFM, etc.

ELECMI INFRASTRUCTURES
ELECMI has a wide range of top level equipment in Electron and Local Probe Microscopy dedicated to the observation, analysis and characterization of materials at atomic and molecular scale, constituting a large infrastructure at the service of researchers, universities, research centers and Industry, with the ability to address the most relevant challenges in the field of new materials.

The most relevant techniques available at ELECMI ICTS include, among others:

Transmission Electron Microscopy – TEM.
Scanning Electron Microscopy – SEM.
Dual Beam Microscopy – DUAL BEAM.

There are also many other techniques for characterizing materials that complement the information obtained through electronic microscopy, and that ELECMI also puts at the service of the scientific community (see equipment offered in the infrastructure section of this website).

If you have any questions about our facilities or services, do not doubt to contact us.