Company Announcements

Park Systems appointed Techcomp as its exclusive Chinese distributor.

Masscal Scientific Instruments and NanoSpective announced a collaborative partnership in April.

JPK Instruments AG named Bucher Biotec AG as its exclusive representatives in Switzerland.

JPK Instruments AG opened a Japanese office in July.

In May, Leica Microsystems GmbH licensed four patents named to Dr. Stephen Baer from Carl Zeiss MicroImaging GmbH, enabling Leica to market its super-resolution fluorescence microscopy technology in the US.

Carl Zeiss SMT designated Varian Vacuum Technologies as a supply chain partner in May.

In June, Judges Scientific acquired Quorum Technologies, which provides sample preparation instruments for electron microscopy, for £1.5 million ($2.4 million). Quorum had sales for the year ended October 2008 of £4.0 million ($6.5 million).

Veeco Instruments Executive Vice President and CFO John (Jack) F. Rein, Jr. announced his retirement in June. Peter Collingwood, vice president and general manager for Europe, was appointed senior vice president, Worldwide Sales and Field Service Organization.

In July, FEI joined the SEMATECH’s Advanced Metrology Development Program at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering of the University of Albany.

Product Introductions

ASPEX launched the PSEM express benchtop analyzer, starting at $75,000, for detecting particles from 100 nm to 5 mm with 25 nm resolution.

Leica Microsystems released the LAS Image Analysis module for automated feature acquisition, detection and measurement.

Carl Zeiss introduced the MERLIN field emission–scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), featuring an enhanced GEMINI II column for image resolution of 0.8 nm.

Carl Zeiss launched the SIGMA VP (Variable Pressure) FE-SEM in July.

Carl Zeiss released the NanoPatterning Engine software for its CrossBeam focused ion beam–SEM workstations.

FEI launched the Helios 1200 Full Wafer DualBeam system for analyzing full wafers up to 300 mm.

FEI introduced the Tecnai Osiris S/TEM, featuring ChemiSTEM technology, which reduces the time for large field-of-view elemental mapping, for semiconductor manufacturing and materials science applications.

FEI released the Titan G2 S/TEM 60-300 Family, featuring modules for the delivery of resolutions down to 70pm and minimum accelerating voltage down to 60 kV.

In July, Veeco launched the scalable Dimension Icon-PT and Icon-PI atomic force microscope systems for nanoscale researchers with limited budgets.