News
2023 NEWS permanently shifted to Twitter → @LMN_UniSiegen
11/2021 1.3 M€ granted for PVD-tools
Congratulations! Thanks to the efforts of all contributing groups, 3 bundled DFG proposals for complementary PVD thin-film deposition tools of around 1.3 M€ in sum were granted. The project, led by Prof. Butz & Prof. Haring Bolívar, is preparatory for the new ISO-4 cleanroom of the future INCYTE Research Center.
The tools will not only allow for standard thin-film deposition of a vast variaty of materials. Strategically, those instruments will allow for research on reactive and highly sensitive materials, too, as those will be equipped with dedicated load locks, a cryo-/inert-gas transfer shuttle as well as a dedicated glovebox.
11/2021 Generating 3D Datasets by Serial Sectioning
We highly welcome Mr. Heinrich Horstmann who is going to conduct a workshop on Serial Block-Face Scanning Electron Microscopy in our lab.
20/07/2021 Tomo-Workshop
Successful one-day workshop on scale-bridging 3D-characterization and data evaluation with lectures by renowned experts from EPFL Lausanne, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, KIT Karlsruhe, Univ. Siegen and Volume Graphics/Heidelberg.
We highly acknowledge the excellent contributions to this valuable event for more than 40 MNaF users and external participants.
06/2021 Paper online
Congrats to Julian Müller and to our colleagues with many thanks for this exciting piece of research!
This is a pretty cool application of site-specific TEM sample extraction at crack tips from austenitic steel samples. The aim was to understand the mechanical behavior upon hydrogen loading. Although having been addressed for tens of years already, this field of research is expected to quickly emerge as it is strongly related to hydrogen storage and transportation worldwide.
S. Brück, B. Blinn, K. Diehl, Y. Wissing, J. Müller, M. Schwarz, H.-J. Christ, T. Beck, T. Staedler, X. Jiang, B. Butz, S. Weihe,
Analysis of hydrogen-induced changes in the cyclic deformation behavior of AISI 300–series austenitic stainless steels using cyclic indentation testing,
Metals (2021), DOI: 10.3390/met11060923
05/2021 STAR fellowship granted
Congrats, Jean, on your EU/Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions co-fund fellowship! We are very happy to welcome you and your family here in Siegen to the end of the summer term and we are looking forward to highly collaborative and fruitful research on Abundant and highly efficient hybrid electrode materials for hydrogen generation by electrolysis.
(Dr. Jean Marie Vianney Nsanzimana, supervisors: Prof. Butz & Prof. Killian)
02/2021 Recent publications online
Find complete publication list and collaboration details here!
Microstructure of ancient Zwischgold coatings (JCultHeritage2021) 
σ-phase in CoCrFeMnNi (ActaMater2021) 
Optical Properties of doped diamond membranes (Carbon2021) 
HEA nanocomposite by severe plastic deformation (ActaMater2021)
2020 Poster award at MSE congress
Congrats to Julian Müller and co-authors for winning the Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) award in the category Characterization for the best poster presentation entitled “Investigation of Medieval Zwischgold Samples by Means of Transmission Electron Microscopy”!
10/2020 0.9 M€ granted for µCT instrument
Congratulations! Prof. Robert Brandt with considerable support by the MNaF (Prof. Butz) and other other colleagues successfully applied for a new µCT instrument for tomographic 3D-analyses of materials, parts & devices down to the sub-µm level.
09/2020 Recent publications online
Find complete publication list and collaboration details here!
Novel electrode for supercaps (AdvEnergyMater2020) 
Fate of NP in waste water (EnvironSciTech2020) 
Microstructure & opt. properties of bent NW (JApplCryst2020)
08/2020 Photography workshop at LMN
Many thanks to Sascha Hüttenhain, a professional in people and product photography from Siegen, for our great first three-days photography workshop in our labs! Aim of this training was to improve our skills to take innovative and professional pictures for research, teaching as well as public outreach. We are looking forward to our visit in your studio, Sascha!!
Making-of 
Making-of 
Macro of microtome/trimmer 
Macro of microtome sample embedded 
OM close-up 
Innovative glovebox picture 
TEM lab
07/2020 New future magazine online
With our contributions about research on 2D materials as well as batteries and fuel cells.
06/07/2020 Ultra-thin slices for electron microscopy
We highly welcome Mr. Helmut Gnägi from Diatome AG, who is going to conduct a practical workshop on ultramicrotomy in our lab.
11/06/2020 National Model United Nations (NMUN)
Congrats, Charles!
Social engagement matters! In addition to his research on 2D semiconductors, Charles Ogolla highly successfully contributes to the National Model United Nations program at the university of Siegen.
First in 2019, he participated in the New York conference together with his colleagues. The team was awarded an outstanding delegate award as well as the best position paper award (for the best written essay contributing to the topics under discussion).
In 2020, he participated as trainer in the program, which resulted in the university being awarded three position paper awards for the NY conference (due to known reasons the physical conference was cancelled).
(Photo courtesy of Model United Nations University of Siegen)
2019 in New York 
2019 in New York 
2020 in Siegen
01/04/2020 MNaF Newsletter Q1/2020
We are glad to present the first informative MNaF Newsletter!
03/06/2020 REM/FIB-School 2020
After our successful TEM workshops in 2018 & 2019, we cordially invite all (potential) users of the MNaF scanning electron/ion microscopes (SEM/FIB) to this year’s SEM/FIB School 2020.
The SEM/FIB School is going to start next week with lectures on and TUE 16/06/2020 and WED 17/06/2020. The lab courses will take place during the semester. The will be conducted in German or English depending on the participants’ needs.
If you would like to participate, please directly contact Dr. Y. Sakalli.
Antrittsvorlesung / Inaugural lecture
Together with PD Dr.-Ing. Ralph Hellmig, I cordially invite you to our inaugural lectures on Friday, 28th of June. For details, click the button below.
For the reception, we would like to ask you to register beforehand using this LINK.
Please directly contact Prof. Benjamin Butz for any further question.
Integration of MoS2 in technological a:Si/H sensors
Congrats! Our first collaborative study at the University of Siegen was recently published – Thanks for all your effort, guys
A. Bablich, D.S. Schneider, P. Kienitz, S. Kataria, S. Wagner, C. Yim, N. McEvoy, O. Engstrom, J. Müller, Y. Sakalli, B. Butz, G.S. Duesberg, P. Haring Bolívar, M.C. Lemme,
Few-Layer MoS2/a-Si:H Heterojunction Pin-Photodiodes for Extended Infrared Detection,
ACS Photonics (2019), DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.9b00337
18/05/2019 Offene Uni 2019
At this year’s Offene Uni event on May 18th, the Siegen core facility MNaF together with the Micro- and Nanoanalytics Group will organize and run a booth to share the fascination with the invisibly small around us.
At the MNaF, powerful characterization tools with capabilities down to the atomic scale are employed for materials and device research at the University of Siegen and beyond (other universities, industry).
Come and experience the fascinating micro- and nanoworld, learn about our cutting-edge capabilities and our service (your opportunity to access such instrumentation).
***Kids are particularly welcome!***
04/2019 INCYTE Research Center granted by the state NRW
We are very happy to announce that the INCYTE Research Center for research on novel functional materials and advanced devices with an overall funding of >50 M€ was granted by the state NRW early this year. This first new building with around 5.200 m² of lab space and offices will host the university’s central Micro- and Nanoanalytics Facility MNaF as well as a dedicated clean-room facility for sensor and device development. For the core facility MNaF, 7 high-end EM labs, around 400 m² for complementary analytics plus 300 m² lab space for sample preparation will be planned.
The Micro- and Nanoanalytics Group will be one of the user groups of the new building.
04/2019 1.1 M€ granted for Imaging EEL spectrometer
We acknowledge our first 1.1 M€ DFG-Major Research Instrumentation Grant to obtain an Imaging EEL Spectrometer as upgrade of our existing TEM (Link to MNaF webpage) and two advanced vacuum & cryo transfer TEM holders for research on sensitive and complex functional materials. The spectrometer will enable a wide range of advanced spectroscopic and imaging characterization techniques as shown in the scheme on the right.
04/03/2019 Summer term seminar
This summer term we will offer our open seminar “Applications and new methods of advanced electron microscopy” with various topics on a weekly basis. We would like to invite all interested studends as well as staff to participate.
Please do not hesitate to contact Prof. Benjamin Butz directly for any kind of questions.
04/03/2019 TEM School 2019
After a very successful first TEM workshop in 2018, we cordially invite all (potential) users of our transmission electron microscope to this year’s TEM School 2019 being held end of march. For detailed information, please see the flyer.
If you would like to participate, please directly contact Dr.-Ing J. Müller or Dr. Y. Sakalli
15/02/2019 b school – visit at LMN/MNaF
After our successful microscopy workshop at the b school Allenbach last year, enthusiastic 3rd and 4th graders visited our EM-facilities to learn about why and how we make use of electrons for imaging samples down to the nm-scale. The field trip started with an introduction comprising physical experiments about electrostatics, electron-beam generation & scanning and sample preparation – own samples like human & dog hair, polen and others were prepared by the students themselves. The hands-on sessions at our FIB/SEM as well as at the environmental SEM brought experimental insight and a lot of joy to all of us!
We thank the physics department for support with experimental equipment and, especially, the colleagues from the Studierendenwerk Siegen for their great service during lunch break at the PB dining hall!
If you are interested in our activities, please directly contact Prof. Benjamin Butz
1/12/2018 Public Outreach for Elementary Schools
Together with the MNaF, the LMN successfully started its dedicated public outreach activities for elementary school students in September this year. Being enthusiastic researchers with expertise in various fields of microscopy, we offer fascinating microscopy workshops to local schools and students, preferably attending 3rd or 4th grade.
This year’s first school was the bilingual b school Allenbach with around 100 students attending. Thanks to the fascinating samples from the students, the two-day workshop became extraordinary. We are excited to welcome you to our EM labs in a few weeks!
Many thanks to Christian Pritzel for beautiful cross-sectional samples from shark teeth and shells, and to the physics education group (Didaktik der Physik) for optical equipment (lenses, telescops).
If you are interested in our activities, please directly contact Prof. Benjamin Butz
1/10/18 NEW Brompton folding bikes
A few months ago, we obtained two Brompton folding bicycles for local meetings and business trips even by high-speed ICE trains or airplanes. The bikes are fully equipped and, most importantly, they are (un-)folded within less than 30 seconds. During the last few months, they have already been used intensively, most recently during the International Microscopy Congress 19 in Sydney.
University groups are highly welcome to utilize the bikes for their own trips.
If you are interested, please contact Julian Müller or Benjamin Butz for information.
15/09/18 Lab remodeling accomplished
We successfully finished the remodeling of the our
basement lab (adjacent to TEM and FIB/SEM), which is going to be used
for materials synthesis and characterization. For battery and thin-film
research, the lab is equipped with various gas supplies including
hydrogen, the required emergency sensors, cooling water and air
ventilation.
Our new glovebox system for environmentally sensitive
materials and samples is going to be delivered in October 2018; an
e-beam PVD system will be installed later. Thanks to Wolfgang Kramer,
the X-ray diffractometer from the Christ group is moved and already put
back in operation, which allows us to tackle another lab remodeling
(sample prep lab) in the third floor.
We would like to thank the great team from the university’s building and safety departments for fruitful discussions and their support!
26/07/2018 Information zu Drittmitteleinwerbung & MNaF-Danksagung
Bitte beachten Sie das aktuelle Schreiben des Dekanats der Fakultät IV und des MNaF-Präsidiums zur Möglichkeit der Einwerbung zusätzlicher Drittmittel zur Deckung von Gerätenutzungskosten am MNaF sowie zur Danksagung in zukünftigen Veröffentlichungen. Wir bitten Sie, diese Information auch an Ihre Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter weiterzuleiten.
Aktuelles Schreiben des Dekanats der Fakultät IV und des MNaF-Präsidiums
Hier geht es zur MNaF-Webseite…
12/07/18 Upcoming 19th International Microscopy Congress
The Micro- and Nanoanalytics Group started preparation for the upcoming IMC19 (Sydney, Australia), one of the most notable microscopy events held every four years.
This year, the group is going to present at least five talks and posters about recent results on battery & fuel-cell research, on novel 2D-materials and on advanced TEM techniques.
We are looking forward to meeting you in Sydney! (Benjamin.Butz@uni-siegen.de)
05/05/18 Micro- and Nanoanalytics Facility at Offene Uni 2018
This year, the MNaF successfully organized its first own Offene Uni booth with around 200 visitors about the fascination of the nano-cosmos in everyday life and materials science with many highlights and exhibitions about
- How incredibly small is an atom?
- Live light microscopy of butterflies: How insects generate their shiny color by nanostructuring photonic crystals? How can we make use of that knowledge?
- Modern materials research examples at our faculty
- MNaF’s organization, our micro- and nanocharacterization facilities and nanocharakterization services provided to the faculty as well as to industrial customers
- Interactive butterfly crafting for kids
Many thanks to all of you who contributed to the success of that special day!
18/04/18 New master module just starting
Mikro- und Nanoanalytik in der Materialforschung / Micro- and Nanoanalytics for Materials Science
This
summer term, we are starting with a new master module (MSc-MWWT &
MSc-Tec catalogue) as a minor field of study, which deals with the
state-of-the-art characterization and manipulation of materials and
devices on the sub-µm down to the atomic scale by fast electrons and
ions. Our courses are
– Scanning electron & ion microscopy (SS)
– Fundamentals of TEM – Imaging & electron diffraction (SS)
– Advanced TEM & spectroscopy (WS)
with
2 SWS / 3 ECTS credits each. We aim on the extension of these
activities by dedicated SEM/TEM lab courses at our modern microscopes
for the upcoming winter term. This term, the courses are going to be
held on Wednesdays (2:15–3:45 pm) and Fridays (10:15-11:45 am) and will
start upcoming Wednesday, April 18th. If you are interested to attend,
please send an email to Prof. Dr. Benjamin Butz or Dr.-Ing. Julian Müller.
11/04/18 GDCh honorary symposium in compliment to Nobel laureate Prof. Joachim Frank with talks given by Prof. Joachim Frank and by Prof. Benjamin Butz (Understanding Li-ion Batteries — Cryo and in situ TEM for Materials Science).
GDCh Symposium Joachim Frank Benjamin Butz 2018 
GDCh Symposium Joachim Frank Benjamin Butz 2018
09/04/18 Prof. Butz an der Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)
am 13.-22. März 2018 fand an der JNU der zweiwöchige Intensiv-Workshop Advanced Electron Microscopy for Materials Science
mit 60 Teilnehmern aus ganz Indien statt. Neben 30 Stunden
Vorlesungen und Tutorials galt das Augenmerk vor allem umfangreichen
Gerätedemonstrationen mit den Teilnehmern, denen neben den
theoretischen Grundlagen und Anwendungen der fortgeschrittenen
Elektronen- und Ionenmikroskopie somit auch Praxiserfahrung vermittelt
werden konnte. Gefördert wurde die Veranstaltung durch die staatliche
Global Initiative on Academic Network (GIAN). Die
Veranstaltung war ein voller Erfolg und wurde durchweg exzellent bis
sehr gut bewertet, was auch der Unterstützung durch Dr.-Ing. Julian
Müller und unsere SHKs zu verdanken ist, die umfangreich zur
Überarbeitung der Lehrmaterialien beigetragen haben.
Die neuen Lehrmaterialien werden ab dem SS18 im neuen Masterwahlpflichtfach Mikro- und Nanoanalytik in der Materialforschung des Lehrstuhls zum Einsatz kommen.
07/03/18 Offene Uni 2018
Am 5. Mai lädt die Universität Siegen zum Blick hinter die Kulissen ein. Lernen Sie zwischen 10 und 16 Uhr das Uni-Leben, unseren Rektor und unsere WissenschaftlerInnen und ihre Forschung kennen. Auch das Gerätezentrum (Mikro- und Nanoanalytik Micro- and Nanoanalytics Facility) wird dieses Jahr zum ersten Mal dabei sein. Kommen Sie vorbei und besuchen Sie uns.
Aktualisiert um 3:20 pm am April 28, 2021 von Benjamin Butz
