Breakthrough technology in microscopy brings advancements that provide customers
with the power to discover things they have never seen before, and to solve
problems never before solvable.
Microscope markets are segmented as optical microscopes, electron microscopes,
scanning probe microscopes and focused ion beam microscopy. Optical microscopes
are light microscopes. The optical microscope is limited in the minimum size
and nature of the features it can resolve by manufacturability constraints and
the physics of light. While optical microscopes once accounted for the bulk
of all microscopes sold in the world, today their percentage of total revenue
is shrinking.
New microscopy technologies have been developed to overcome the limitations
of light microscopes. Electron, scanning probe and focused ion beam microscopy
are essential aspects of different approaches to visualization at the nanoparticle
level. The field of microscopy continues to evolve rapidly, as new requirements
and imaging technologies are developed.
Innovations in electronics, engineering and industrial materials permit the
industry to effectively overcome conventional barriers, allowing new systems
to evolve based on new technologies. Custom-assembled systems are based on modular
approaches to product delivery. Platforms are implemented as frameworks that
accept any of a variety of modules.
Nanotechnology funding at $8.5 billion in 2008 is anticipated to increase rapidly
as countries respond to the economic meltdown. Every dollar invested in nanotechnology
research turns $5 in tax dollars within a year and continues to provide that
level of taxes for the next 20 to 50 years. This is a very good investment.
FEI has had momentum in the microscope research markets unmatched by any competitor.
The wins in the research market are significant because the nanotechnology techniques
being developed there will work for another generation, driving markets in every
segment as the research in nanotechnology being conducted now provides technology
that will flow out into industry and government at a rapid pace.
FEI Company (Nasdaq:FEIC) high-resolution imaging and analysis system Titan(3(TM))
80-300 scanning/transmission electron microscope (S/TEM) competitive win in
the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) and King Abdullah University
of Science and Technology (KAUST) of Saudi Arabia bring enormous opportunity
to the company.
IBM has extended 3D MRI to the Nanoscale. IBM Research (NYSE: IBM) scientists,
in collaboration with the Centre for Probing the Nanoscale at Stanford University,
have demonstrated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with volume resolution 100
million times finer than conventional MRI.
Microscope market forecasts indicate that markets at $3.5 billion in 2008 are
anticipated to reach $7.7 billion by 2015. Growth is stimulated by worldwide
government investment in innovation in response to the meltdown of financial
markets.