FEI Announces World’s Most Advanced Electron Microscope

New Titan(TM) (S)TEM, With Resolution Below 0.7 Angstrom, Surpasses
Previous World Record Performance for Commercial Systems

Metrology World
4/18/2005

HILLSBORO, OR – FEI today announced its new scanning/transmission
electron microscope (S/TEM), the Titan 80-300, dedicated to corrected
microscopy. The new (S)TEM system is the world’s most advanced
commercially-available microscope, yielding atomic-scale imaging with
resolution below 0.7 Angstrom. The Titan announcement comes just one
year after FEI became the first developer and manufacturer of
commercial electron microscopes to achieve sub-Angstrom resolution on
FEI’s market-leading Tecnai(TM) microscope using a monochromator and
an aberration corrector.

Until now, aberration correction technologies in electron microscopes
have been treated as accessory components for (S)TEM systems that were
not truly optimized for this type of advanced technology. Thus, the
integration of these types of correctors for breaking the next
resolution barrier and for high usability has been met with limited
success.

The all-new Titan 80-300 is designed as a dedicated and
highly-upgradeable aberration-corrected system that will enable
corrector and monochromator technology to enter into mainstream
nanotechnology research and industrial markets. The Titan (S)TEM
system features unparalleled overall stability to break the 1-Angstrom
barrier. Results from FEI’s Nanoport in The Netherlands deliver Titan
TEM information limits below 0.7 Angstrom and STEM resolution just
below 1.0 Angstrom, without the addition of aberration corrector
upgrades — an achievement that has never before been demonstrated on
a commercial tool. Corrector upgrades can be added for higher
resolution, extending the point resolution down to the information
limit for accurate interpretation of atomic structures.

The Titan 80-300 has been rigorously evaluated by several leading
researchers and customers under Non-Disclosure Agreements. The system
will be fully available for demonstrations after Titan’s official
launch at the 2005 Microscopy and Microanalysis meeting, August 1-4,
in Honolulu.

The upgradeable design of the Titan enables not only larger
nanotechnology and national research centers to afford dedicated
aberration corrected TEM technology, it opens the door to universities
and companies with staged funds to position themselves for the future.
FEI has received several advance orders for the new Titan (S)TEM
ranging from the base Titan 80-300 to the Titan 80-300 with two
aberration correctors and a monochromator. FEI’s award-winning and
record breaking Tecnai G2 TEM will continue to be marketed and
supported for customers who do not need aberration-corrected
resolution. New developments and products for this proven platform
will also be introduced at the 2005 Microscopy and Microanalysis
meeting.

“The Titan 80-300 is a significant platform for the nanotechnology
era. It provides our customers a solid foundation for continued
innovation and commercialization. FEI’s continuing advances in
ultra-high TEM resolution, coupled with our market-leading focused ion
beam (FIB) technologies, deliver powerful and vital tools for
researchers, developers and manufacturers who are increasingly focused
on nanoscale discovery and product commercialization,” commented Vahe
Sarkissian, FEI’s chairman and chief executive officer. “As the
world’s

leader in providing Tools for Nanotech(TM), FEI will continue to
invest in the development of these key technologies and market
platforms.”

“The initial market response for this advanced technology has been
very strong,” said George Scholes, general manager of FEI’s (S)TEM
business line. “For wide commercialization of this technology we
designed the base system with a superior level of upgradeability so
customers can add an aberration corrector, on site at a later
date. This will enable customers to obtain resolution and capability
they need today, knowing that they can expand the system’s resolution
limits as their requirements change.”

Advance orders for the new Titan(TM) (S)TEM have been in markets
ranging from advanced materials, energy, and semiconductors, to
advanced nanotechnology research centers in Europe and North
America. FEI believes that the Titan will also be a powerful addition
to FEI’s UltraView(TM) suite of sample management tools that takes
NanoElectronics customers rapidly from wafers to atoms with
sub-Angstrom resolution.

The introduction of the Titan is just one illustration of FEI’s
leadership in electron microscopy and its ability to accelerate the
resolution revolution. In a November 2004 news release, FEI announced
that it was selected as the R&D partner for a program aiming to build
the highest resolution scanning/transmission electron microscope
(S/TEM) in the world by several regional U.S. laboratories that
combined to form the TEAM project. It is a multi-million dollar
microscopy project that calls for a new microscope that should enable
extraordinary new scientific opportunities for direct observation
aimed at enabling analysis of individual nanostructures at an
unprecedented resolution of 0.5 Angstrom — approximately one-third
the size of a carbon atom.

About FEI

FEI’s Tools for Nanotech(TM), featuring focused ion- and electron-beam
technologies, deliver 3D characterization, analysis and modification
capabilities with resolution down to the sub-Angstrom level. With R&D
centers in North America and Europe and sales and service operations
in more than 40 countries around the world, FEI is bringing the
nanoscale within the grasp of leading researchers and manufacturers
and helping to turn some of the biggest ideas of this century into
reality.

More information can be found on the FEI website at:

Source: FEI Company

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress