HILLSBORO, Ore., May 3, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FEI Company (Nasdaq:FEIC), a leading instrumentation company providing systems for research and industry, today announced that it is extending its ChemiSTEM™ Technology to enable, for the first time, atomic-level energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy across the periodic table. The combination of increased current in an atomic-sized probe by Cs-correction and the increase in X-ray detection sensitivity and beam current of the ChemiSTEM Technology allows results to be obtained within minutes.
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"The powerful combination of the groundbreaking ChemiSTEM Technology and an aberration corrector offers unique capabilities for material science," said Professor Ferdinand Hofer of Graz University of Technology, Austria. "One of the most important applications for the new technology will be element-specific imaging at atomic resolution. We will apply the technology to study interfaces in semiconductors, solar cell materials, LEDs and ceramic materials with previously unknown detection sensitivity and accuracy.
George Scholes, FEI's vice president for product management, adds, "The ChemiSTEM Technology will enable breakthough results in many key application areas for our customers, such as catalysis, metallurgy, microelectronics, and green energy materials, to name a few. For example, in a recent experiment with ChemiSTEM Technology, our customer was able to clearly resolve the core-shell structure of 5nm catalyst nanoparticles in about three minutes and with three times greater pixel resolution than a previous experiment with conventional technology. And the conventional technology failed after three hours of data collection to clearly resolve the same structure."
ChemiSTEM Technology achieves a factor of 50 or more enhancement in speed of EDX elemental mapping on scanning/transmission electron microscopes (S/TEMs) compared to conventional technology employing standard EDX Silicon-drift detectors (SDDs) and standard Schottky-FEG electron sources. It combines FEI's proprietary X-FEG high brightness electron source, providing up to five times more beam current at a given spatial resolution; the patent-pending Super-X™ detection system, providing up to ten times or more detection sensitivity in EDX; and fast scanning electronics, capable of achieving EDX spectral rates of up to 100,000 spectra per second. Additionally, the windowless detector design employed for each of ChemiSTEM Technology's four integrated SDD detectors has proven to optimize the detection of both light and heavy elements.
This combination of high detection sensitivity and high spectral rates of up to 100,000 spectra per second are enabling better EDX mapping of materials that are highly sensitive to electron beam damage, such as composition analysis in nanometer-scale Indium Gallium Nitride quantum wells used in light emitting diode (LED) devices, and semiconductor devices with potentially mobile dopant materials, as well as many others devices used in emerging nanotechnologies.
For more information about ChemiSTEM Technology, visit: www.fei.com/chemistem
Figure Caption
The images show atomic-level EDX spectroscopy of the material Strontium Titanate; the individual atomic positions of the crystal structure can be easily distinguished by their chemical signal (red is Strontium, green is Titanium). These images are based on raw data, with no signal post-processing, and the individual atomic column positions in the structure are visible and clearly distinguished from their neighbors with very high contrast and signal-to-noise quality. The sampling of these atomic-level chemical maps is 0.075 Angstroms per pixel, the highest sampling density obtained so far by any atomic spectroscopy technique using scanning/transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM). These chemical maps were acquired in just minutes on a Titan™ G2 60-300 S/TEM with ChemiSTEM™ Technology.
About FEI
FEI (Nasdaq:FEIC) is a leading diversified scientific instruments company. It is a premier provider of electron- and ion-beam microscopes and tools for nanoscale applications across many industries: industrial and academic materials research, life sciences, semiconductors, data storage, natural resources and more. With more than 60 years of technological innovation and leadership, FEI has set the performance standard in transmission electron microscopes (TEM), scanning electron microscopes (SEM) and DualBeams™, which combine a SEM with a focused ion beam (FIB). FEI's imaging systems provide 3D characterization, analysis and modification/prototyping with resolutions down to the sub-Ångström (one-tenth of a nanometer) level. FEI's NanoPorts in North America, Europe and Asia provide centers of technical excellence where its world-class community of customers and specialists collaborate. FEI has approximately 1800 employees and sales and service operations in more than 50 countries around the world. More information can be found at: www.fei.com.
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FEI Safe Harbor Statement
This news release contains forward-looking statements that include statements regarding the performance capabilities and benefits of ChemiSTEM and the Titan G2 60-300. Factors that could affect these forward-looking statements include but are not limited to failure of the product or technology to perform as expected and achieve anticipated results, unexpected technology problems and our ability to manufacture, ship and deliver the tools or software as expected. 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.
