For more than 45 years, Surface Science Western (SSW) has solved complex materials challenges for companies across sectors as diverse as mining, automotive, medical devices, and defence. Industry insiders and manufacturers know SSW well, but much of its sophisticated analytical work happens behind the scenes—out of the public eye yet critical to client success and consumer safety. SSW has built a reputation for answering the “why” questions manufacturers can’t tackle alone. It’s not a place that chases headlines; it chases the invisible culprits—contamination, failures, fractures, and other material mysteries that could cost companies millions if left unsolved.
In a world of rising tariffs, fragmenting supply chains, and renewed interest in local sourcing and production, SSW provides a genuine competitive advantage. It’s not a startup. It’s not a multinational. It’s a university-based analytical facility that operates like a business, serves industry like a consultant, and trains the next generation —designed from day one to solve real problems at the speed demanded by businesses.
Built for One Industry, Adapted for Many
When SSW opened its doors in 1981, the semiconductor industry was booming. A specialized Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) instrument became the anchor, purpose-built to probe semiconductor surfaces layer by layer to determine trace-level elemental composition. The trace-level elemental detection capability was also useful for solving materials issues arising in the nuclear industry.
By the late 1980s, SSW began taking on work from mining and mineral processing operations. The same SIMS instrument employed for semiconductor analysis proved useful for understanding mineral phase distribution, revealing where precious metals reside within ore, how mineral phases separate during flotation, and what’s happening in tailings samples. Today, mineral processing accounts for roughly a quarter of SSW’s annual revenue, forming one of three pillars of the facility’s business, the other being the automotive and energy sectors.
The 1980s–2000s: Energy, Power, and Automotive Sector Involvement
From the 1980s to 2000s, SSW broadened its scope into Ontario’s automotive and power generation sectors, helping them with root cause analysis. Utilities and energy clients turned to SSW for addressing materials degradation issues, including those caused by corrosion, aging, and other service conditions in their turbines, boilers, pipelines, and heat‑exchangers. Automotive clients were interested in troubleshooting coating defects, adhesion failures, contamination issues, and poor service performance as they adopted lightweight alloys, high-strength steels, and advanced coatings. Both of these applications normally require a multi-technique approach utilizing all or several instrument capabilities available at SSW. This two-decade period established SSW as a cross-sector problem-solver, able to translate methods from one industry to another.
2019: The Big Upgrade!
The turning point came in 2018 when SSW received Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) funding that transformed its capabilities. Out went some aging instruments and in came their modern replacements - a high-resolution Hitachi Regulus SEM (scanning electron microscope), a Kratos Supra X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS), a PHI 710 Scanning Auger microprobe (SAM), a Rigaku X-ray diffractometer (XRD), and a Zeiss X-ray microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) system. Along with improved resolution and enhanced elemental analysis capabilities, these new instruments also offer advanced data processing routines, crucial to solving materials issues.
The Arsenal: Equipment That Answers Questions Others Can't
Walking through Surface Science Western's lab spaces reveals the essence of the facility's approach. The 1981 SIMS machine sits beside 2023-era instrumentation. Glove boxes for air-sensitive samples stand near environmental weathering chambers that can replicate years of UV and corrosion damage in weeks. X-ray equipment reveals elemental composition. Each machine answers a different question. Together, they form a multi-technique approach, the insight required to resolve complex material problems that rarely have one-tool answers.
The Cameca IMS-3f SIMS machine, the facility's oldest instrument, works by bombarding a sample with cesium ions and measuring the mass of secondary ion signatures. Today, it's used almost exclusively for mineral processing work—answering questions like: "Where is the gold in this ore?" or "How will this mineral respond to processing?" The machine's longevity reflects the power of having the right people to run the instrument and meticulous maintenance. ”"Installed in 1981, the SIMS instrument is still here, still working, still being regularly used—and that durability, combined with our willingness to apply it to new problems, became one of our competitive advantages,” says Brad Kobe, P. Eng, Manager at Surface Science Western. "We understand our SIMS machine deeply enough to evolve it, upgrade it, and keep it solving problems for four decades—from semiconductors to power generation to mining."
The scanning electron microscope (SEM), by contrast, reveals the morphology with stunning detail. A manufacturer of a pipeline inspection robot tool will ask “why this robot failed abruptly and got stuck in the pipeline?” The SEM reveals the fracture surface's morphology, while elemental analysis shows whether contamination was present. By combining both sets of information, SSW scientists are able to determine whether the premature failure could be due to manufacturing issues or due to something that happened while in service. A food and beverage company might submit a corroded can seam—the SEM reveals the corrosion morphology, while the corrosion product composition helps to determine the root cause.
SSW's micro-CT system creates 3D cross-sections of samples without destroying them, revealing porosity, internal cracks, and other hidden features. Defence contractors use it to verify that the purchased components meet specifications. Mining companies use it to understand ore porosity and predict flotation response. Semiconductor industries use it to determine the integrity of the wire bond adhesion.
A specific client success story comes to mind for Dr. Jeff Henderson, Research Scientist at SSW, “A major OEM sent us a component that failed prematurely. Our analysis revealed that a supplier had substituted inferior material. That one finding saved the company from a massive recall.”
Why Expertise Matters More Than Machines
Here's what distinguishes SSW from most common testing labs: they don't just run samples through equipment and email back data files. Instead, SSW conducts analysis, interprets results in the context of the client's specific problem, and sits down—either in person or remotely —to explain what the data means and what the client should do about it.
When a manufacturer discovers a defective product, they're losing money every day the problem isn't solved. A production hold can cost tens of thousands of dollars per hour. SSW operates on what it calls "the speed of business"—delivering analysis in days and in 2-3 weeks at the most, and rushing analyses in 24 hours or even less when situations, such as a manufacturing line failure, demand it.
This consulting mindset, while combining data analysis with problem-solving, is what brings manufacturers back. It's also why SSW's leadership is deliberate about investing in people. Graduate students and early-career researchers spend time at SSW learning not just how to operate equipment, but how to think about material problems. When they graduate, they're prepared for industry roles.
SSW is committed to providing training and workforce development. Dr. Jeff Henderson explains, “Our graduate students don't just use the equipment. They learn to interpret the data to solve real industrial problems. That's preparation most academic programs don't provide.”
Time to “bid adieu” to the Old SIMS Instrument
Recently, SSW, in collaboration with other professors and researchers at Western, has been successful in securing funding from the CFI for replacing the aging SIMS instrument. The state-of-the-art new SIMS instrument is expected to be installed and operational in a year and a half’s time. In addition, this new funding will also enable SSW to acquire another state-of-the-art XPS instrument, a new time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) instrument, a new field emission SEM equipped with electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) capability, and an optical microscope equipped with a Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) system. This infusion of new funds will reinforce SSW as one of the few premier laboratories for surface analytical measurements in the world and will provide additional capabilities to Ontario’s manufacturers!
Building for the Next 40 Years
Since 1981, Surface Science Western has been solving problems for manufacturers locally, nationally, and internationally. For every company that needs to understand why things fail, how to improve quality, or whether they can compete in a changing economy, SSW is an essential infrastructure.
Looking forward, SSW faces a moment of opportunity. As tariffs increase and supply chains fragment, manufacturers are exploring local production and material sourcing. Environmental testing and materials characterization are becoming critical. Defence and sensitive goods handling represent growing demand. SSW is positioned at the intersection of all these trends—not as a startup chasing headlines, but as an established essential infrastructure quietly enabling Ontario's competitive advantage.
Brad Kobe notes, “As supply chains shift and manufacturers look closer to home, they're realizing that they need access to analytical capability they can trust. We're positioned to be that resource for Ontario."
SSW's founders built something remarkable over four and a half decades. The next chapter is about deepening that impact—solving more problems, training more engineers and researchers, and helping Canadian companies compete.
