MICA ? What's that ?

MICA stands for MIcroscopic ChAracterization of functional and nanostructured materials - who could have guessed :-) ?

This advanced technological platform of the Institute of Condensed Matter and Nanosciences serves a large community of users interested by microscopy characterization tools mainly in the context of materials science, chemistry, solid-state physics, and (bio)nanotechnology, although other disciplinary fields are certainly welcome.

MICA provides advice and access to state-of-the-art equipment in scanning probe microscopy, electron microscopy, light microscopy and anciliary sample preparation.  It also includes a set of spectroscopic micro-characterization tools. A complete listing is available on this web site (click on 'Equipment catalog', left menu).

If you are a scientist interested in getting access to one (or more) of these tools, belonging either to UCLouvain, another higher education institution, or a company, MICA is open to you, with financial conditions depending on your status. In most cases, you will be first required to receive a technical training, before being allowed to work on your own. MICA also offers on-demand characterization services to external users, typically industrial companies.

Conditions of access to MICA, and financial conditions of use, are specific to each category of user; they can be obtained by e-mailing the person in charge of the platform (contact information is in the left menu).