Anna Grassellino, Fermilab senior scientist and SQMS Center Director, and Akshay Murthy, SQMS Materials Focus Area Leader and Materials Characterization group leader, apply state-of-the-art characterization techniques in the Materials Science Lab, such as x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry to examine the effectiveness of niobium surface capping. Photo: Ryan Postel, Fermilab