ID30A-3 (MASSIF-3) – a beamline for macromolecular crystallography at the ESRF with a small intense beam

ID30A-3 (or MASSIF-3) is a mini-focus (beam size 18 µm × 14 µm) highly intense (2.0 × 10¹³ photons s⁻¹), fixed-energy (12.81 keV) beamline for macromolecular crystallography (MX) experiments at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). MASSIF-3 is one of two fixed-energy beamlines sited on the first branch of the canted undulator setup on the ESRF ID30 port and is equipped with a MD2 micro-diffractometer, a Flex HCD sample changer, and an Eiger X 4M fast hybrid photon-counting detector. MASSIF-3 is recommended for collecting diffraction data from single small crystals (≤15 µm in one dimension) or for experiments using serial methods. The end-station has been in full user operation since December 2014, and here its current characteristics and capabilities are described.