The Materials Microcharacterization Collaboratory

Participants

Objective

Approach

Accomplishments

Plans

Tools Available

Publications

Demonstrations

Partners

Outreach

The MMC has an extensive list of publications and conference presentations.  These presentations have made us very visible in the microcharacterization and scattering communities and we are clearly recognized as the leaders in the field for remote collaboration.

The MMC has performed an amazing number of very high level demonstrations. Highlights include demos to Vice President Gore, several Senators and many Congressmen, three Secretaries of Energy,  and multiple demonstrations at all levels within DOE.  A Congressional Expo was held last summer in the Rayburn building, hosted and attended by the Lab Director's at each of our laboratories.  Next week we will do a demonstration for the Chief Research Officers of each of the 88 ORAU member universities.  We are on the short list for tour stops for any VIP's who visit our Laboratories.  At this point we are no longer even pursuing demo opportunities, people are seeking us out for demos.

Our Industrial Partners are a key component of our success.  Their continued support is necessary for us to achieve our goals and as for-profit companies they will only support us as long as they perceive real value in what we are doing.  Their letters of support show that they have been significantly influenced by their participation in this project and they believe that it is very important that we continue our efforts.

Improvement to instrumentation

Most of our instruments were not designed with remote control in mind.  Since most instruments cost in excess of $1M it is not possible to simply buy a new one.  In some cases considerable effort has gone into making the instrument itself remoteable.   This consists of replacing some manually controlled components with computer controlled ones.  In other cases, it was necessary to add increased automation of local operations.  For example, the apparently simple operation of increasing the magnification on a TEM actually requires the coordinated adjustment of many separate lens controls.  It would not be practical or reasonable to adjust them individually over the wide area network.  Cooperation of our industrial partners has been important in getting this work done.  More importantly, our interactions with manufacturers has encouraged them to design remote control capability directly into the microscope control system so that they are ready for remote operation right out of the box.

• JEOL 733 Electron Microprobe updated for digital operation to permit remote control for imaging and both wavelength dispersive and energy dispersive spectroscopy for chemical microanalysis of materials science specimens.
• Prototype stepper motor control of an aperture drive on the Hitachi HF-2000 FE-TEM developed to permit control of aperture position from the computer, and thereby via remote operation.
• Similar stepper motor control system developed for electron biprism on HF-2000 FE-TEM, to permit remote electron holography operation for the first time.
• A number of software additions and refinements (including computer-assisted astigmatism correction and focussing) were made to allow more functional remote control of the HF-2000 using Gatan Digital Micrograph software.
• Zeiss DSM-960 Analytical SEM interface has been improved. X-ray Microanalytical System (Oxford ISIS) is fully controllable on-line. Cathodoluminesence and backscattered electron Kikuchi diffraction systems will be controllable once their installation is complete. Associated data analysis and simulation software is on-line. Improved Java interface to SEM should be completed soon.
• Hitachi S-4700 high resolution FEG SEM is on-line and remotely controllable. X-ray Microanalytical System (Oxford ISIS) is fully controllable on-line. Associated data analysis and simulation software is on-line.
• PHI 660 Scanning Auger Microprobe is on-line and remotely controllable, including data analysis tools.
• Philips X'pert MRD high performance X-ray Diffractometer is on-line and remotely controllable, including data analysis tools.
• The above 4 instruments use a Web browser interface. All  have observer and remote control modes and we will very soon be adding a second higher level protected observer mode.
• Cameca IMS-5f Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer is on-line in an observer mode only.
• Spectrum imaging operation of the Philips XL30 FEG is online.
• A software toolkit for processing image data has been written in Java and made available
• The spectrometer on the VG AAEM is now online via the web
• The Web interface for VG AAEM has been rewritten
• The Neutron Residual Stress Facility (NRSF) at the High Flux Isotope Reactor is online.   Instrument status is available through a Web browser.  Limited instrument control is available through Java applets that communicate with the instrument's LabVIEW based control software.
• The motion control system for the NRSF has been converted from NuBus cards to GPIB controllers so that we can move the control system to Windows NT if needed.
• Electronic notebooks have become a part of normal operation at the NRSF and have been used in place of paper notebooks.
• The VAX/VMS control system at the x-ray beamline at BNL's National Synchrotron Light Source has been replaced with a Unix based system.  This change was required to make remote operation possible.

Progress on Uniform Architecture

During the previous year, we have reviewed various services that are available under a CORBA framework as defined by the OMG standard. These include

• Event services that use push-pull technology for decoupled communication
• OrbixTalk that provides ordered reliable multicast
• Naming and trading services for object localization
• Secure Socket Level (SSL) for secure communication

These services are available on multiple platforms that include Solaris and NT.

We have focused on those services that are needed for scalable virtual microscopy (also applicable to other scientific instruments). In this context, we have identified three services. These include Instrument Services (IS), Exchange Services (ES), and Computational Services (CS). This architecture is shown in http://www-itg.lbl.gov/MMC/DesignDoc/CORBA.gif.

Specific accomplishments include

• Detailed implementation of the proposed architecture for two unique microscopes, Philips CM300 and High Voltage Electron Microscope (HVEM),
• Incorporation of a functional graphical user interface (GUI) for collaborative microscopy,
• Documentation of software design documents and source code on the World Wide Web

Security Infrastructure

In FY98 we deployed a Netscape-based certificate and associated LDAP server. Unfortunately, when we installed NT Service Pack 4, the Netscape certificate server stopped working, and Netscape refuses to remedy this situtuation. This is unfortunate because Service Pack 4 is required to obtain Y2k compliance and also to plug major security holes.

Because Jim Rome is the Netscape DevEdge Certificate Authority "Champion" we have obtained beta versions of Certificate Server 4 and have just now redeployed our certificate infrastructure.

The MMC certificates contain the user's role as one of the components of the distinguished name (DN) so that quick access decisions can be made just by examining the presented certificate. To achieve this, we have changed the meaning of the usual ST (State) field to mean "Status" for MMC purposes. We have four different roles

• Guest can observe
• User can operate equipment remotely, but not necessarily every aspect
• Operator can assume complete control of facilities
• Administrator can change the security infrastructure

For example, MMC DNs have the following form
E=jar@ornl.gov,CN=James A.Rome,UID=jar,ST=Administrator, L=Oak Ridge\, TN,OU=Oak Ridge National Laboratory, O=Materials MicrocharacterizationCollaboratory,C=US

All MMC certificates can be used for client authentication and for S/MIME secure E-mail. Some certificates are also empowered to sign application code which must override security on the client's machine. For example, remote microscope javascript windows are set to always be "on top." Currently, certificates are used in the MMC to protect Web sites, to provide encrypted communications via SSL, and to provide secure access to private electronic notebooks.

Video Everywhere

We have >50 live video streams in (more or less) continuous operation at sites around the country.  Most of our labs and many of our offices are visible on the Web. This has been a very powerful tool for creating a sense of community with the project and for capturing the imagination of people outside the project.  The streaming jpeg video requires only Netscape on the receiving end, not even a plugin is required.   The quality of the video streams is remarkably high and is sufficient for many purposes.  While these tools can also send audio we have found it more practical to just use the telephone for audio.  Phones are everywhere and they work.  The combination has created a workable videoconference tool.  It's really fun, during a phone call with someone outside the project, to say "type this URL into your computer and see what happens!"  We have also combined video streams from the microscopes with video of the operators to create a useful video collaboration tool.  Several locations have cameras with pan/tilt/zoom controllable via the web.  To enhance the feeling of "being there", we are experimenting with IPIX's immersive 360x360 photo technology and will soon beta test their immersive webcam product.

Online Research Sessions

Effective online research sessions depend, of course, on the availability of the tools needed to conduct those sessions.  One advantage of continuing to utilize our existing remote control techniques while we develop the uniform one, is the ability to use lessons learned from these sessions to guide tool development.  Of equal importance is the opportunity to use these sessions to create awareness within the scientific community of the benefits of remote operation.

A number of research sessions have been conducted with partners in the catalyst development for NOx reduction in diesel exhausts area. The potential for Telepresence Microscopy to aid in rapid development of new materials has been demonstrated. We now have 3 collaborators at Ford Research Laboratory, and have recently added a university collaborator (Prof. Bruce Gates, UCalDavis) in this area.

A three way collaboration between ANL, ORNL, and the University of Michigan was performed examining "Beam Broadening Effects in STEM/EDS Measurement of Radiation-Induced Segregation in High-Purity 304L Stainless Steel", presented at the Microscopy and Microanalysis 97 Meeting.

A three way collaboration between ANL, NIST and Texas Instruments was used to identify the source of contamination of a TI fabrication line.  X-ray microanalysis performed at NIST was combined with High Resolution Advanced Analytical Electron Microscopy at ANL to locate and identify the elemental composition of the contaminating particles.

A collaboratory session between ORNL and LANL was performed on the microstructure of a complex oxide scale on a commercial superalloy. Remote operation of the Emispec spectrum imaging system on the Philips XL30 FEG SEM permitted imaging and X-ray microanalysis that enabled rapid identification of the various oxide and metallic phases present in the near-surface region.

A collaboratory session between ORNL and ANL (and Kyushu University visitor) focused on ALCHEMI (atom location by channeling-enhanced microanalysis) of site occupancy in annealed and irradiated AlMg2O4 spinel. Remote collaboration between the onsite ORNL and Kyushu personnel and the remote ANL personnel allowed online discussion of the ALCHEMI results, as well as highlighting the rocking beam ALCHEMI technique as implemented at ORNL.