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Choosing Between Methods

Each page leads with a decision table, then states the rule that resolves the trade-off.

Decision Page The question that settles it
Which microscopy technique? TEM vs SEM vs AFM Is the feature on the surface or inside it, and do you need a picture or a number?
How should I inspect this surface? Inspecting a surface Colour photograph, millimetre roughness, or a nanometre height map?
Print it or machine it? 3D printing vs CNC machining Is the difficulty in the geometry, or in the tolerance and the load?
Mask or stamp? Photolithography vs nanoimprint Do you have a chrome mask at micron scale, or a stamp to copy?

Smaller decisions, answered inside a technique page

These are resolved with a decision table on the page that owns the method:

If the material is the fixed thing, start by sample type. If you already know the method, use the techniques index.

MPaCT Lab - Building 98E, South Engineering Lab, 561 E Pine Knoll Dr, Flagstaff, AZ 86001
Phone: 928-523-2343 · Email: mpct.nano@nau.edu

Ask which method you need