Dr. Rajiv Modi, CMD, Cadila Pharmaceuticals Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Guwahati, inaugurates the ‘Electron Microscopic Facilities’ at IIT Guwahati.

Dr. Rajiv Modi, CMD, Cadila Pharmaceuticals and Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Guwahati, inaugurated the ‘Electron Microscopic Facilities’ of the Central Instruments Facility (CIF) of the Institute which is expanded with installation of a Field Emission Transmission Electron Microscope (FETEM) and a Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) at the cost of nearly Rs. 10 crores. Prof. Gautum Biswas, Director; Prof. G. Krishnamoorthy, Head, CIF; and other dignitaries were present during the inauguration function. The new ‘Electron Microscopic Facilities’ are available to the researchers with the inauguration. While addressing the gathering after the inauguration, Dr. Modi expressed his pleasure and said that with the installation of such cutting edge state-of-the-art analytical equipment facilities the researchers are well equipped to create knowledge and thus extend service to the society.

The new FETEM is a JEM-2100F(HR) instrument, a make of JEOL, is basically a next generation multipurpose TEM. The JEM-2100F can achieve the highest image quality and the highest analytical performance in the 200 kV class analytical TEM with a probe size under 0.5 nm. The instrument has a point-to-point resolution of 0.23 nm with a high resolution pole piece and lattice resolution of 0.10 nm under the range of magnification 1500000x. FETEM is also equipped with the latest GATAN Ultrafast Camera and Oxford make Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer with 80 mm2 high performance detector for elemental analysis with a detection limit from Boron to Uranium. This is the first FETEM in the northeast India.

The new Gemini 300 FESEM is a make of Carl Zeiss, one of the leading manufacturers of microscope. Gemini 300 is a high performance instrument designed for gaining maximum information from the broadest range of sample and high flexibility in imaging, analysis, with future upgradability for any kind of in situ application.The uniqueness of this system is imaging at very high resolution (0.8 nm at 15 kV; 1.4 nm at 1 kV), very low to high accelerating voltage (0.02 to 30 kV) and very high magnification range i.e. up to 20,00,000x.

The Gemini 300 of CIF is equipped OXFORD Instruments’ advanced Windowless Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer (EDS) system for characterization of nano-size features. The windowless EDS is most recent technology and the this is the set-up first of it’s kind in India.

Dr. Rajiv I. Modi joined the Board of Directors of Indian Multinational Pharmaceutical company Cadila Pharmaceuticals in 1991. Dr. Modi holds a Ph.D. in Biological Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. He also holds an M.Sc. in Biochemical Engineering from University College, London and a B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, India.