Surface Analysis Facility

The University of Oxford Surface Analysis Facility (SAF) is contained within the Department of Chemistry and consists of a set of commercial instruments chosen specifically to interrogate the properties of surfaces initially purchased using the generous financial support of the EPSRC under the Strategic Equipment Initiative part of the Schemes Group. The SAF provides a diverse range of equipment and experienced staff to help analyze and modify surfaces.

These instruments are available to be used by ALL researchers throughout the university.

All the consumable items required must be purchased by the researcher. The charges for these, purchased through the SAF, can generally be found on the technical specification page of each instrument. For short term experimental trials, the instrument and technical assistance are available almost free of charge. However, for experiments demanding more equipment time, the charges to be levied will be discussed when the instrument is booked. When applying to use an instrument please include a brief summary of the experiment to be completed, along with an explanation of the ultimate aims of the project being undertaken.

The instrumentation is also available to Customers from outside of the University.

SAF takes a flexible approach to each of these customer's needs, utilising its facilities and expertise in a variety of ways. Based within the Chemistry Department SAF is at the heart of cutting edge research allowing the service to keep up to date with current techniques, trends and technologies to provide a comprehensive analysis of your material.  Please see the Measurement tab for examples of the kind of data we can collect.