 |
 |
||||||
[June 2006]
Xradia Announces US$2 Million Contract for Hard X-ray Nanoprobe Instrument
Xradia Inc (Concord, CA, USA), a developer and manufacturer of ultra-high resolution X-ray imaging systems for 3D tomography and nanotechnology applications, has announced the award of a US$2 million contract from CNM, the Argonne National Laboratory’s Center for Nanoscale Materials (Argonne, IL, USA).The contract calls for the participation in the design and engineering of a high resolution hard X-ray nanoprobe instrument (NPI) for 30nm high resolution elemental and structural analysis using scanning probe and full-field transmission X-ray microscopy. The NPI will be installed at the Hard X-ray Nanoprobe Beamline at Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source (APS) as part of a joint development effort between the CNM and APS.
High resolution X-ray microscopy is of growing importance for research and industry in such diverse fields as alternative energy, advanced semiconductor development, bio-technology and life sciences, advanced materials and nanotechnology. The unique ability of X-rays to penetrate samples of interest non-destructively, combined with X-ray optics that enable high resolution microscopy, gives researchers and engineers unprecedented access to knowledge about the inner structure and nature of objects both man-made and natural in origin.
The NPI will be one of the major characterisation tools at the Center for Nanoscale Materials. "The Hard X-ray Nanoprobe will provide x-ray characterization at a spatial resolution of 30nm which substantially exceeds the optical limit," said Dr Eric Isaacs, Director of CNM. "When integrated with CNM’s materials synthesis, fabrication, theory and other characterization capabilities, the NPI will revolutionize the design of materials at the nanoscale."
"This project will push the state of the art in x-ray microscopy to new levels of resolution, both in terms of x-ray optics, and precision mechanical design," said Dr Jörg Maser, Principal Researcher at the Center for Nanoscale Materials. "With their commercial leadership in x-ray optics, and turnkey x-ray microscope instrumentation, Xradia is specially qualified to contribute to the design and to execute much of the system construction."
"We are delighted to be teaming up with CNM on this critical program," said Dr Wenbing Yun, President and Founder of Xradia. "Pushing x-ray optics to new levels of resolution, and marrying that with advanced system design and imaging software, opens up exciting new applications in a wide range of disciplines and also helps Xradia’s commercial systems stay at the forefront."
www.xradia.com
ENDS