About SALVE III Tools

The SALVE microscopy center provides state-of-the-art preparation and observation instruments and services. The SALVE III microscope, data exchange services and numerical simulation software have been developed and constructed until the end of phase III of the SALVE project.

While computers have lifetimes of three to five years, electron microscopes must continue to be useful for a minimum of 15 years and ideally 30. Due to the foresight of its designers, the Central Facility of Electron Microscopy (CFEM) hosts one of the first commercial aberration-corrected microscopes worldwide (since October 2005). The super microscope, named SALVE III, will be installed at the CFEM in the new microscopy building which is under construction and will be finalized in 09/2017. Archival storage systems, data analysis and visualization systems, and disk storage resources are also resided in the SALVE microscopy centre.

As SALVE moves forward with new microscopes at the Central Facility for Electron Microscopy, the Group of Electron Microscopy for Materials Science will continue to provide a home to key services and resources to enhance the capabilities of the Central Facility, and will serve as a centralized collocation facility for the growing numbers of smaller-scale systems deployed across University Ulm-area campuses. Uni Ulms Philps CM 20 has been useful for 33 years and is currently exchanged with a new 200 kV-FEG microscope.

Researchers can apply for observation time and data usage in the SALVE microscopy centre User service.

The SALVE microscope centre promotes technology transfer to strengthen economy. Contact information is provided in the section Technology transfer.

Electron Microscope SALVE I
The SALVE I microscope was a CS-corrected Carl Zeiss Libra 200 - based experimental platform to evaluate the feasibility of fabricating a CC/CS-corrected Low-Voltage HRTEM (20 - 80 kV) in SALVE I from 2009 to the end of 2011.
Electron Microscope SALVE II
A CC/CS-corrector was developed in Phase II (Development Phase, 2012 - 2014) of the SALVE project and incorporated in the SALVE I microscope. This platform called SALVE II was intended to result in a commercially available CC/CS-corrected low voltage HRTEM. This goal was not achieved because of the unexpected withdrawal of Carl Zeiss from the TEM market.
Electron Microscope SALVE III
The FEI Titan Themis-based SALVE III microscope has been built in Phase III (Production Phase) of the SALVE project. The centerpiece of the SALVE III microscope is a new quadrupole-octupole CC/CS-corrector by CEOS which has been developed in SALVE II and advanced further in SALVE III. The Production phase has been started in March 2015 when FEI company joined the SALVE project and the goals were accomplished only one year later.
Electron microscope Titan (80-300)
FEI-TITAN (80 - 300 kV) with post-objective CS-corrector can be used for low-voltage TEM at 80 kV.
Preparation machine
Carl ZEISS NVision 40 Argon, suitable for sample preparation for low-voltage TEM.
Data and Validation
Development of radiation damage models, evaluation and creation of image simulation, data analysis methods and validation strategies.
User Service
SALVE provides a database for low-voltage microscopy, which is available for interested researchers.
Technology transfer
Morphing scientific discoveries and research tools into commercially viable products to support worldwide economic growth including developing countries.
Environmental conditions
A new microscopy builiding for the Central Facility for Electron Microscopy is under construction at Ulm Unviersity to provide the stability of environmental conditions required for the SALVE tools, especially for the SALVE III microscope.