FEI and CEOS deliver First Sub-Angstrom, Low-Voltage Electron (SALVE) Microscope to the University of Ulm
April 28 2016 - 11:46AM
FEI (NASDAQ:FEIC) and CEOS announced today that they have delivered
the first sub-Ångstrom, low-voltage electron (SALVE) microscope to
the University of Ulm. The microscope, equipped with a
Cc/Cs-corrector from CEOS, was developed in collaboration with the
University of Ulm. It uses electrons with energies between 20keV
and 80keV, much lower than typical for a transmission electron
microscope (TEM), to enhance contrast and reduce radiation damage
to light element samples, including two-dimensional (2D) materials
like graphene and organic materials. The system corrects both
spherical and chromatic aberrations to deliver atomic-scale image
resolution and reduces the energy spread of the beam with a
monochromator to provide high-energy resolution spectroscopic
analysis of composition, electronic structures and bonding states.
“We are truly excited to receive this new tool, which is the
first of its kind. Our long effort pays off,” said Prof. Ute
Kaiser, University of Ulm, head of the SALVE project. “It will
allow our researchers to visualize atomic structures with
sub-Ångstrom spatial resolution in materials that have, until now,
been difficult to investigate because of their sensitivity to
damage by the electron beam and their low imaging contrast. We
believe it will open the door to ground-breaking discoveries in
this important class of materials.”
“We could not have developed this industry-leading microscope
without the critical contributions of our partner CEOS and the
close interaction with the University of Ulm,” said Bert Freitag,
FEI’s director of product marketing for Materials Science.
“Excellent teamwork throughout the project and the early-stage
development of the correction system by CEOS has allowed us to
build the SALVE tool in record time, with initial results that
actually exceeded the guaranteed performance specification for
low-voltage TEM imaging. In addition to outstanding imaging
performance, it supports cryo-EM techniques at liquid nitrogen
temperatures and provides high-resolution electron energy loss
spectroscopy (EELS) information at low voltages. These capabilities
will extend the range of our industry-leading Titan™ Themis TEM
platform into entirely new application spaces, such as research on
molecules and new 2D materials.”
Prof. Max Haider, CEOS GmbH, adds, “We have had great success
with our correctors for spherical aberration at higher voltages.
Now we are seeing similar success correcting the chromatic
aberrations that limit performance at lower voltages. The SALVE
system uses both kinds of correction to deliver unprecedented
imaging capability for some very interesting materials that have,
until now, not been able to investigate with TEM in atomic
resolution.”
Materials composed of light elements, such as carbon containing
organic materials, and samples that are extremely thin, such as
graphene, a 2D carbon film only one atom thick, have been resistant
to investigation in electron microscopes because they interact
weakly with, and are more easily damaged by, the high-energy
electrons in the microscope’s electron beam. Lower-energy beam
electrons would interact more strongly and cause less damage, but
the performance of conventional electron microscopes deteriorates
at lower energies because small variations in energy among the
individual electrons of the beam become larger relative to the
average beam energy. These variations cause the electrons to focus
differently, degrading resolution. The chromatic aberration
corrector of the SALVE microscope corrects for these variations and
permit sub-Ångstrom resolution at lower energies, generating more
image contrast and reducing sample damage.
The SALVE project is funded by the German Research Society and
the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg.
For more information, please visit www.salve-project.de.
About the University of UlmThe University of
Ulm is situated in the east of Baden-Württemberg at the river
Danube. The research, studying, and teaching activities concentrate
on medicine, economics, natural science, engineering and material
science. About 10,000 students are currently enlisted at the
University of Ulm. The electron microscopy group headed by Prof.
Ute Kaiser is well-known for the research in the field of
low-voltage TEM and its application to novel beam sensitive
materials such as low-dimensional objects. The group was one of the
first adopters and users of aberration-corrected TEM technology
with the FEI Titan system already in 2005. In 2008 Ute Kaiser
started to establish the SALVE project with the aim of developing
the prerequisites for transmission electron microscopy capable to
reach atomic resolution at 20 kV. More information can be found at:
www.salve-project.de.
About CEOS, GmbHCEOS GmbH is a privately owned
SME which concentrates on the developments and research of advanced
charged particle optical components like aberration correctors for
high resolution TEMs and STEMs as well as SEMs. Most of these
components are produced by CEOS and after factory alignment and
proper testing shipped as OEM products to the EM manufacturers.
CEOS is located in Heidelberg, Germany and has more than 40
employees. More information can be found at: www.ceos-gmbh.de.
About FEIFEI Company (Nasdaq:FEIC) designs,
manufactures and supports a broad range of high-performance
microscopy workflow solutions that provide images and answers at
the micro-, nano- and picometer scales. Its innovation and
leadership enable customers in industry and science to increase
productivity and make breakthrough discoveries. Headquartered in
Hillsboro, Ore., USA, FEI has over 2,800 employees and sales and
service operations in more than 50 countries around the world. More
information can be found at: www.fei.com.
FEI Safe Harbor Statement This news release
contains forward-looking statements that include statements
regarding the performance capabilities and benefits of the Titan
Themis TEM and sub-Ångstrom, low voltage electron (SALVE)
microscope. Factors that could affect these forward-looking
statements include but are not limited to our ability to
manufacture, ship, deliver and install the tools, solutions or
software as expected; failure of the product or technology to
perform as expected; unexpected technology problems and challenges;
changes to the technology; the inability of FEI, its suppliers or
project partners to make the technological advances required for
the technology to achieve anticipated results; and the inability of
the customer to deploy the tools or develop and deploy the expected
new applications. Please also refer to our Form 10-K, Forms 10-Q,
Forms 8-K and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission for additional information on these factors and other
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
the forward-looking statements. FEI assumes no duty to update
forward-looking statements.
For more information contact:
Sandy Fewkes (media contact)
MindWrite Communications, Inc.
+1 408 224 4024
sandy@mind-write.com
FEI Company
Jason Willey (investors and analysts)
Investor Relations Director
+1 503 726 2533
jason.willey@fei.com
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