Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility

Staff

SMIF staff hold expertise across a wide range of fields and will help you with your nano-characterization and fabrication needs.

A variety of lithography, deposition, and etching tools in the SMIF cleanroom enable micro- and nano-scale fabrication of electronics, optics, microfluidics, metamaterials, and more! SMIF can facilitate your research and development fabrication needs.

Outreach

SMIF Outreach Team visits classrooms, hosts lab tours, and let kids play with expensive equipment (supervised!). It’s SMIF’s way of showing them how fun and fascinating STEM can be.

Characterization

SMIF’s characterization tools help visualize and analyze samples at the micro- and nano-scale. SMIF facilitates investigation of a variety of sample types with a wide array of equipment: SEM, TEM, Mass Spec, Micro-CT, Optical Spectroscopy, AFM, along with Soft Materials and X-ray Characterization Equipment.

Cryo-TEM

SMIF’s state-of-the-art cryo-TEM microscopes allow the analysis of biological samples under cryogenic conditions, enabling the determination of high-resolution 3D structures.

The Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility (SMIF) at Duke University is an interdisciplinary, shared resource open to Duke University researchers from all schools and departments—as well as to users from other universities, government laboratories and industry.

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Publications

Nguyen, U., F. Alfieri, A. Veneziano, A. Licht and J. A. Nyakatura (2026). Whole-Epiphysis Trabecular Bone in Tamarin Limbs Suggests Effects of Leaping Distance Alongside Non-Biomechanical Factors. Am J Biol Anthropol 190(2): e70293.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.70293.

Instrument used: MicroCT

Chan, Y. M., Judge, N.G., Willits, R.K. et al. (2026). Enhanced integrin-mediated adhesion and proliferation of Schwann cells using highly aligned, dual-functional fibrous scaffolds. npj Soft Matter 2(14).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44431-026-00028-7.

Instruments used: DMA, UVVis

Rambo, C. R., J. J. Amsden, R. B. Serpa, T. Aloui, J. Ye, D. Muller, C. B. Parker and J. T. Glass (2026). Graphene edges modulate field-emission performance of graphenated carbon nanotubes. Carbon: 121828.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2026.121828.

Instruments used: Raman, TEM

Staff

Cleanroom

Outreach

Characterization

Cryo-TEM

Publications

SMIF in the News

Reliance on Vision Drove Varied Brain Development in Primates