JOHN FOURNELLE

Ph.D. 1989
Johns Hopkins University

Emeritus Senior Scientist, Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Eugene Cameron Electron Microprobe Lab
Dept of Geoscience
Weeks Hall Room 306
1215 West Dayton St.
Madison, WI 53706
email: johnf(at)geology.wisc.edu
cell: 608-438-7480

CV of John Fournelle

Updated 12/26/2020

UW Electron Microprobe Lab

From July 1992 to February 2020, I ran the UW-Madison electron microprobe lab, the ONLY ELECTRON MICROPROBES in the state of Wisconsin. Our lab consists of a CAMECA SXFive Field Emission electron microprobe #944, installed in late 2014, and a CAMECA SX51 electron microprobe #485, installed in late 1993, and associated equipment. The SXFive was the first installed in North America. The SX51 was an intermediary between the older SX50 and the next generation SX100. Dr Will Nachlas is now the Director of the Probe and SEM labs. Please contact him if you are interested in access to these instruments.

I have been using electron probes since 1985: the old MAC at the Geophysical Lab in the mid 1980s, the Smithsonian's ARL-SEMQ 1989-91, Johns Hopkins' JEOL 8600 1991-92, UW's old ARL-SEMQ 1992-93, our Cameca SX51 (1993-today), and now our Cameca SXFive FE.

The electron probe is a "specialized SEM on steroids": its forte is accuracy in microanalysis, because
(1) it explicitly uses standards (so results are not artifically normalized to 100 wt%, thus has built in QC/reality check),
(2) it has very high spectral resolution and can resolve otherwise impossible (by EDS) peak overlaps,
(3) it has low detection limits so trace element measurements are possible in many cases,
(4) we can accurately measure elements as light as B, and
(5) we can accurately measure thin films and coatings either using (a) the multiple voltage technique or (b) low voltages in certain specific cases.

While I officially retired from directing the operation of the electron probes and Hitachi S3400N scanning electron microscope, I continue to be very active with many research projects, some funded by NSF with research scientist Aurelien Moy, on "low kV EPMA". Other projects include chemical peak shifts in Mg, Al and Si Ka X-rays; development of some mineral standards for EPMA; and assorted "problems" in EPMA. A team of myself and 3 colleagues finished a multi-year project to write an uptodate summary of EPMA for Progress in Materials Science (Llovet Moy Pinard Fournelle).

A lot more information about our electron microprobe


Some of my geological/volcanological research and other interests


Go to UW-Geology &Geophysics Page