Thursday, October 2, 2008
2008 R&D 100 Winner
The latest beam-based microscope from Carl Zeiss SMT, Peabody, Mass., might look similar to a scanning electron microscope, but under the hood it’s a much different animal. Instead of electrons, the ORION Helium Ion Microscope projects a beam of much heavier helium ions, which scatter less at the sample surface and help produce a crisper image. The beam energy spread is less than 1.0 eV, which yields low diffraction, higher resolution and a focused spot size of less than 0.6 nm. The key component is the “trimer,” a finely sharpened needle with just three atoms at the tip. Maintained under high vacuum and cryogenic temperatures, the needle attracts helium gas under a high electric field, ionizing in a region of less than 1 Å. The gas field ion source is the brightest ever developed for microscopy, calculated at 4 x 109 A/(cm2 sr). The same mass also helps the ORION image low-Z materials.
Technology
Beam-based microscope
Developer
Carl Zeiss SMT
