Carl
Zeiss SMT Inc., a leading global provider of electron- and
ion-beam imaging and analysis equipment and solutions for
nanotechnology applications, today announced that it has successfully
shipped its first ORION™ Helium ion microscope to the
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg,
MD. The microscope, which has already achieved site acceptance, uses
proprietary new technology developed by ALIS Corporation, a Peabody
(MA) based start-up company acquired by Carl Zeiss SMT in 2006.
“We are extremely pleased to have achieved this
remarkable milestone in history: initiating a new era in microscopy by
shipping the world’s first commercial helium ion
microscope,” said Dirk Stenkamp, member of the Carl Zeiss SMT
executive board. “The fact that this instrument has been
shipped to a selected customer before its official market introduction
later this year clearly reveals the demand for this breakthrough
technology. We are especially pleased that the first ORION™
microscope is destined for the NIST laboratories where research at the
limits of physics is carried out on a daily basis.”
The ORION™ microscope is being delivered to the
Precision Engineering Division of the NIST Manufacturing Engineering
Laboratory and will be installed in the Advanced Measurement Laboratory
(AML). The AML, one of the most technically advanced laboratory
facilities in the world, features stringent environmental controls to
allow researchers to conduct exacting measurements and develop
standards for a wide range of fields, such as nanotechnology,
nanomanufacturing, semiconductor electronics, and biotechnology.
According to Carl Zeiss SMT, this new breed of microscope is
expected to provide images of unrivalled ultra-high resolution surface
and material contrast, unachievable with state-of-the-art technologies
of today. The ORION™ scanning ion microscope uses a beam of
Helium ions, rather than electrons typically used in scanning electron
microscopes (SEM), to generate the signals to be measured and imaged.
Since Helium ions can be focused into a substantially smaller probe
size and reveal a much stronger sample interaction compared to
electrons, the ORION™ system can generate higher resolution
images with greatly improved material contrast.
Bill Ward, principal inventor of the Helium ion microscope,
founder of ALIS Corporation and Chief Technologist at Carl Zeiss SMT
Inc., said, “This breakthrough in physics comes just in time.
Today’s scientists are facing problems they can’t
solve because they can’t see what they need to see. In
addition, traditional procedures for sample preparation are slow,
tedious and imprecise. Fortunately, the ORION™ microscope
addresses these issues and will enable further scientific advancements
in a large number of fields, such as semiconductor process control,
life science applications and materials analysis.”