Media Release
December 6 2006
UniSA’s new materials analysis capacity supports national network
The materials analysis capabilities at UniSA’s
Ian Wark Research Institute will
get a huge boost with the acquisition of a new Time-of-Flight Secondary
Ion Mass Spectrometer (ToF-SIMS) announced this week.
The ToF-SIMS will form part of a national network of advanced microscopy
and microanalysis instrumentation, giving academic and industry
researchers access to a state-of-the-art facility, able to analyse the
surfaces of materials with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution.
UniSA Deputy Director of the Ian Wark Research Institute,
Professor Hans Griesser says the ToF-SIMS will be included in the
array of complementary instruments that, under the umbrella of the
existing SA Regional Facility for Microscopy and Microanalysis, are
seamlessly accessible to researchers from all three SA universities and
from industry.
The SA Regional Facility establishes a node of a new national network
with funding under the Federal Government’s National Collaborative
Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) scheme. The SA State Government
and the three SA universities are also contributing a substantial
co-investment to this new venture.
Some $2.6 million of the funding will go to the Ian Wark Research
Institute for the establishment of the
ToF-SIMS capability, a unique facility in the national network and one
that will see the Institute firmly embedded in the national materials
characterization community, with researchers from around the nation
accessing The Wark™’s acknowledged expertise in ToF-SIMS analysis.
“This is very exciting for South Australia because it opens up an
advanced capability for analysis of a wide range of materials and
devices across a broad spectrum of industries from mining and energy, to
manufacturing, clinical and medical sciences and pharmaceuticals,”
Professor Griesser says.
“The instrument provides a mass spectrum of the surface composition of
materials and devices - information essential to the understanding and
control of interfacial interactions that determine, for example, the
efficiency of separation of different minerals particles and the ability
of the human body to accept implants.
“We will be able to gather data at a level of detail and precision
previously unavailable in SA, opening up many new research areas and
supporting new ventures in nanotechnology and microfluidics.”
Professor Hans Griesser says the new ToF-SIMS facility will ensure SA
maintains its well-established leading expertise in microanalysis
science and its application to practical problems.
“The new facility will enhance the excellent cooperation we have across
the state between UniSA, the University of Adelaide and Flinders
University,” he said.
“Sharing of equipment and expertise has enhanced our efficiencies and
stimulated important and vital collaborations.”
UniSA’s Mawson Lakes campus is well recognized globally for its strength
in surface and interface science and engineering.
The new ToF-SIMS instrument will be located in a state-of-the-art,
customized laboratory and will be operated by personnel with more than
10 years of experience in the operation and application of ToF-SIMS
analyses.
Contact for interview
-
Professor Hans Griesser office (08) 8302 3703 email hans.griesser@unisa.edu.au
Media contact
- Michèle Nardelli office (08) 8302 0966 mobile 0418 823 673 email michele.nardelli@unisa.edu.au