Celebrating 25 years of novel materials research and new application development in Canada
Established with funding support from Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Province of Ontario in 1999, WATLab is the first multidisciplinary materials research centre in Canada's Technology Triangle. WATLab offers a completetoolset for advanced materials research and emerging technology development. Most of our instrument systems are state-of-the-art and some are unique in Canada.
News
WATLab has a new website and new tools!
The WATLab website has been reworked to comply with web accessibility standards under Ontario law. We are slowly learning the new WCMS 3 system and we ask our users to be patient with us as there will likely be some instability in this process. Please report anything unusual to Nina.
WATLab has started the process of adding two new tools this year: a micro XRF system and an advanced Raman confocal system. Both will extend what we can currently do at WATLab. The new XPS system and the upgraded SIMS system (installed in 2023) have been working well, and we welcome new samples. We have also installed a new source in the Libra 200 MC TEM system, which has significantly improved the image quality. WATLab looks forward to assisting all our users in need of these and other advanced tools at WATLab.
CWL shutdown update
We have implemented a workaround (the CWL shutdown). All the SEMs are back up and should be stable.
Campus-wide chilled water loop (CWL) shutdown
The campus-wide chilled water loop (CWL) shutdown on Dec 6 and 7 is going to affect multiple systems at WATLab. We are taking proactive measure to shutdown the affected systems before this CWL shutdown at 6 am tomorrow. Plant Operations said that the CWL will be back on by Friday. We apologise for the inconvenience, and we take this opportunity to wish our users Happy Christmas and Wonderful New Year.
Upgrading our Raman system and adding micro-XRF capability soon
All systems are working well. WATLab will be upgrading our Raman system and will also be adding micro-XRF capability soon.
There is an article from Physics World on WATLab.
Both the new ESCA system and Thermo NEXSA G2 have been installed
Both the new ESCA system, Thermo NEXSA G2, and the extended dynamic range upgrade for the ION-TOF SIMS-5 system have been installed successfully. We encourage all the users to consider taking advantage of these new generations of tools at WATLab for chemical-state surface composition analysis and depth-profiling chemical characterization as we strongly believe that these tools will enable our users to do better science.
