Get Ahead of the Game in Microscopy

Light microscopy uses visible light to examine small objects.  Theoretically, a light microscope can resolve approximately 200 nanometers. Compound microscopes offer up to 1000x magnification whereas stereomicroscopes deliver 40-100x magnification.

Light microscopy has a broad range of applications, from routine histology in transmitted light to 3-D fluorescence imaging for life sciences research. Fluorescent proteins make individual cell components visible, providing a better understanding of processes in living cells and organisms. Light microscopes are also used for investigation, development and analysis of materials in materials research and industrial quality control.

In confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), a laser spot serially scans a fluorescent specimen to create computer-generated optical sections. These stacks of optical sections can be rendered into a digital 3-D reconstruction of the specimen.

CLSM is often used in life sciences, for imaging of dynamic processes in living cells. Advanced fluorescence techniques, such as FRET, FRAP or FCS use specific labels to observe even rapid processes and protein interaction. In the industrial environment, CLSM is mainly used for surface characterization, to create surface profiles and conduct roughness measurement.

Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM) scan a sample with a focused electron beam and deliver high resolution surface information and superior materials contrast. Focused Ion Beam SEMs (FIB-SEMs) combine the imaging and analytical performance of a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) with the ability of a FIB for material processing and sample preparation on a nanoscopic scale.

Conveying information about the samples’ topography and composition, SEMs are widely used in application fields such as nanotechnology, materials analysis, semiconductor failure analysis, life sciences and quality assurance.

Ion microscopes use ionized atoms, e.g. helium, neon, or gallium, which are accelerated and focused to a spot size as small as half a nanometer. Such focused ion beam (FIB) instruments can be used to generate high magnification images well beyond the capabilities of traditional optical microscopy. They also can be used to add, subtract, or otherwise modify specimens at the nanometer scale, allowing researchers to nanofabricate devices for a variety of applications.

This wide array of capabilities makes an ion microscope an ideal instrument for imaging, characterization, and nanofabrication. Typical applications are in advanced materials (graphene and polymers), energy (including advanced batteries and solar photovoltaics), life sciences (pharmaceuticals and biology) and semiconductor circuit analysis and modification.

X-ray microscopy uses unique X-ray focusing and detector designs to facilitate high contrast, high resolution 3D tomographic imaging with down to 50 nm spatial resolution. Furthermore, the nondestructive nature of the method has enabled an increasing variety of in situ or “4D” imaging workflows.

The strength of the technology is reflected in the diversity of applications it serves, ranging from materials characterization, to nondestructive failure analysis especially in electronics packaging, biological specimen imaging, and rock analysis for oil & gas or mining applications.