Carl Zeiss SMT today officially
put into service the 1,500th GEMINI®-class scanning electron microscope.
The customer is the "Center for Non-Destructive Nano Evaluation nanoeva®"
in Dresden, a joint facility of the Electronics Packaging Laboratory (German
abbreviation: IAVT) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Non-Destructive Testing
(IZFP-D) through its Dresden-based department. One of the key applications for
which nanoeva® will be using the electron microscope is to carry out research
on the packaging of electronic and microtechnical modules for system integration.
The mix of materials this involves, ranging from silicon to plastics, requires
the development of tailor-made methods of analysis.
The system, which was specifically configured for nanoeva®, offers a special
combination that incorporates high-resolution imaging of sample details plus
a multitude of analysis options, such as chemical element analysis and size
and distance measurements with levels of accuracy to the order of millionths
of a millimeter. The Head of Electron Microscopy Product Management at Carl
Zeiss, Dr. Thomas Albrecht, emphasizes some of the key benefits: “1,500
GEMINI®-class scanning electron microscopes not only reflect just how much
confidence customers have in this technology and its applications, but also
offer an opportunity to link up with a whole host of users worldwide and exchange
experiences on how to put these tools to optimum use. Obviously, this is an
area where we also incorporate the many years of experience accrued by our application
specialists. We work towards the goal of extracting as much information as possible
from samples while demonstrating to our customers that we are a partner they
can trust.”
Professor Klaus-Jürgen Wolter from the IAVT at Dresden University of Technology
explains further: “Cutting-edge research in the field of microtechnologies
and nanotechnologies requires high-performance tools to analyze and visualize
samples. The GEMINI® scanning electron microscope from Carl Zeiss is the
ideal supplement to our range of analysis tools. We now have the kind of abundant
resources that allow us to make great headway with both our own work and with
projects for our clients. It has also given a further productivity boost to
the bridge between industrial development and the realms of research and teaching.”