The transmission electron microscope with 200 kV acceleration voltage is especially suitable for structural and analytical nano-characterisation of materials since it has a field-emission electron gun (FEG) wich gives very intense subnanometer-sized beams. This equipment incorporates an Ultra High Resolution Objective Lens with the following capacities:

The conventional sample holder with a tilt of +/- 25º can be fitted with a special high-angle holder (+/- 70º) for use in tomography. A double-tilt sample holder can additionally be used for diffraction studies. The movement of the sample depends on a goniometer with a piezoelectric mechanism allowing smooth displacement and drift correction at high magnification.

It comprises a high resolution CCD camera (2048 x 2048 pixels), a GATAN model SC200, for imaging, along with Digital Micrograph software for processing and acquisition control.

The microscope is equipped with a STEM unit with the bright field imaging detector and the high-angle annular dark-field (HAADF) detector, wich enables the observation of contrast in phases with different atomic numbers.

The capacity of chemical characterisation is enhanced by the EDS X-Max 80 detector (Oxford Instruments), wich has a resolution of 127 eV and is equipped for carrying out elemental analysis of isolated areas and spatial distribution of elemens in the sample (mapping).

Finally, the microscope incorporates the Nanomegas DigiSTAR unit for obtaining diffraction patterns in precesion mode and the ATD-3D software (Nanomegas) for automatic reconstruction of 3D space of diffraction patterns. This tool is extremely important for the characterisation of cristalline structures in materials research.