Company Announcements

In July, Carl Zeiss received a license from the University of California at San Francisco for “Multidirectional Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy,” an advanced illumination technique for light sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM). The company is currently developing an LSFM system for multidimensional, ultrafast and long-term time lapse imaging of live specimens.

Retroactive to June 1, Carl Zeiss granted a sublicense to patents related to LED fluorescence excitation in microscopy to Prior Scientific.

In August, Nanosurf and Suzhou Haizisi Nano Technology formed a Chinese joint venture, Suzhou Hzs Nanosurf Nanotechnology.

Hitachi High-Technologies America announced in August a collaboration with Buehler to provide complete analysis solutions.

TILL Photonics announced in August distribution agreements with Fondis Electronic for France and parts of Switzerland, with Inycom for Spain and with Icon Analytical Equipment for India.

Product Introductions

Attolight launched in July a quantitative cathodoluminescence microscope, featuring a scanning electron microscope (SEM) containing an embedded optical microscope, a nine-axis cryo nano-stage and a fully integrated cathodoluminescence system.

In July, Bruker launched the ScanAsyst-HR fast-scanning feature for the MultiMode 8 atomic force microscope (AFM).

In August, Bruker introduced the production-environment Dimension Edge PSS AFM, which is tailored for patterned sapphire substrate metrology in high-brightness LED manufacturing.

JEOL released in July the JSM-7800F field emission–SEM, featuring a new super-hybrid objective lens for resolutions of 0.8 nm (15 kV) and 1.2 nm (1 kV).

Topcon Positioning Systems launched in July the Aquila hybrid optical microscope and SEM, featuring a small footprint and ease of use, in the North American market.

FEI launched in August the Versa 3D DualBeam system, which is available with either high vacuum only or high- and low-vacuum electron-imaging hardware.

FEI released the Titan G2 80-200 scanning/transmission EM (STEM) with ChemiSTEM Technology for achieving spatial resolutions of 0.8 Å in STEM and 0.9 Å in TEM.

Oxford Instruments NanoAnalysis launched the NordlysNano electron backscatter diffraction detector, which can collect data at lower beam energy.

Leica Microsystems released the Leica MM AF NX imaging systems, featuring a redesigned interface and Molecular Devices’ MetaMorph Software.

SII NanoTechnology introduced the SMI4050 Focused Ion Beam System, featuring new ion beam optics.