The Characterization Facility (“CharFac”) is a multi-user, shared instrumentation facility for materials research spanning from nanotechnology to biology and medicine. Our analytical capabilities include microscopy via electron beams, force probes and visible light, including cryogenic methods; elemental and chemical imaging including depth profiling; elemental and chemical spectroscopy; atomic and molecular structure analysis via X-ray, ion or electron scattering; nanomechanical and nanotribological probes; and other tools for surface and thin-film metrology.
CharFac resides administratively under the College of Science and Engineering with additional support from the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Medical School, the School of Dentistry, the College of Pharmacy and the College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS). Approximately 140 faculty research programs use our capabilities; these researchers originate from about 40 University of Minnesota departments and units under eight colleges. The CharFac also works with some 50 industrial companies in a typical year, ranging from small start-ups to multinational corporations, and a couple dozen external academic institutions. These interactions include analytical services, training for independent use, and research collaboration. Finally, the CharFac has received financial support for equipment from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) via their Major Research Instrumentation grant programs, and from the University’s NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). Relatedly, the CharFac is a key node in the Materials Research Facilities Network (MRFN), which provides financial support for facilities usage by researchers from any US higher education institution.