Ernst Ruska-Centre

The Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons is a German research establishment conjointly operated by the Jülich Research Centre and RWTH Aachen University on a pari passu basis. The facility, which also offers user services to external research groups, is located on the campus of Research Centre Jülich belonging to the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres.The ER-C's main purposes are fundamental research in high-resolution transmission electron microscopy method development as well as respective applications coming along with topical problems in solid state research and energy research. For theses purposes the ER-C runs several state-of-the-art transmission electron microscopes and develops customed software solutions to be used for e.g. for the exit wave retrieval purposes or the measurement of higher-order lens aberrations.The ER-C was founded in Aachen on 27 January 2004 by means of a contract signed by the chairman of Forschungszentrum Jülich Joachim Treusch and RWTH Aachen University's rector Burkhard Rauhut. The centre was inaugurated on 18 May 2006 in presence of members of the Ernst Ruska family as well as representatives of the international electron microscopy community.Instrumental ResourcesThe ER-C presently houses 13 electron microscopes manufactured by FEI Company and JEOL Ltd. ranging from standard scanning electron microscopes to highly specialised Titan series transmission electron microscopes equipped with aberration correction units and offering an information limit well below 100 picometres. The majority of ER-C instrumental resources is available for use by both in-house and external users.