Instrument Capabilities

The SAXSLab Ganesha System is small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering instrument for characterization of nanoscale structure, including particle size, interparticle spacing, domain dimensions, aggregation, and periodic structures in bulk materials, thin films, and dispersions. The system accommodates both transmission and grazing-incidence geometries.
Transmission small‑angle X‑ray scattering (SAXS) is a powerful method to gather quantitative nanoscale information from a diverse range of samples from liquids to pastes, powders, and films. The typical length scales probed range from ~1‑100 nm, corresponding well to the typical feature sizes of nanoparticles, block copolymers, and proteins. This versatility enables characterizations of diverse samples including nanoparticle solutions, nanocomposites, block copolymers, mesoporous materials, and protein solutions.

Glancing Incidence small-angle scattering (GISAXS) allows for examination of thin film materials by shallow illumination of films grown on otherwise x-ray opaque substrates. By adjusting incidence angle, scattering and diffraction information can be obtained from the surface of the film as well as the entire thickness of the film.

Key features:

• The Ganesha SAXSLAB 300 XL+ is equipped with a microfocus X-ray source with a spot size of 20 μm.
• The instrument is capable of instrument of interrogating the structure and structural evolution of materials over multiple length scales, with feature sizes of 0.2 nm up to 179 nm.
• Rail-mounted Pilatus 300K detector with 487 × 619 electronics-independent pixels, and a high dynamic range from 4 x 10-5 to 3 x 106 count rate per pixel.
• Motorized sample stage with a 2 μm step size
• Capillary heater/cooling block with a range from -20°C to 80°C and 0.1°C precision for measuring both solids and liquids.
• Linkam stage with an accessible temperature range between -196°C to 600°C for solids and liquids alike.
• Environmental chamber for working under gases as well as solvent vapors and can hold an internal pressure from vacuum to 2 atm.

Fees and Policies

• UT Users: $9/hour
• Higher Education/State Agencies: $59/hour
• Corporate/External Users: $59/hour

Traning

Users should register for the required in-person training course through UTLearn.

TMI-XRD: Introduction to Xenocs GISAXS
TMI-XRD: Introduction to Xenocs SAXS