Oxford Instruments, UK, has been awarded a prestigious Institute of Physics Business Innovation Award for the development of BEX, a breakthrough analytical technique in scanning electron microscopes, enabling new capabilities and accelerating time to results by at least an order of magnitude.
Oxford Instruments introduced Unity, a new detector type for a revolutionary new analytical technique in the SEM. It is the world’s first Backscattered Electron and X-ray (BEX) imaging detector. Based on an innovative design, which includes both backscattered electron and X-ray sensors within the same sensor package, Unity is located directly beneath the SEM pole piece and has been engineered to maximize signal collection, ensuring it can be used at normal SEM imaging speed and operating conditions. It seamlessly combines electrons and X-ray signals to deliver rapid high-definition colour images embedded with elemental data as users navigate around the sample, making SEM imaging elementary. BEX is a breakthrough for microanalysis as it accelerates by up to 100 times the time to results and opens the door for new applications in SEM.
The Institute of Physics (IOP) is the professional body and learned society for physics in the UK and Ireland. With a rich history of supporting business innovation and growth, it is committed to working with ‘physics-powered’ businesses, and companies that apply and employ physics and physicists.
The IOP’s prestigious Business Awards are unique in the UK and Ireland in recognizing the significant contribution that physicists and physics make in industry and this year’s cohort of awardees contains the 100th IOP business award winner.
There are three categories of awards – Business Innovation, Business Start-Up and the Lee Lucas Award (for the medical and healthcare sector) – so businesses at any stage of their development are eligible; from start-ups to multi-national corporations.
The IOP Business Innovation Award specifically recognizes and celebrates companies that have excelled in innovation, delivering significant economic and/or societal impact through the application of physics.
Image – Pictured, left to right: IOP president-elect, professor Paul Howarth CBE; Oxford Instruments lead product manager (BEX), Dr. Haithem Mansour; Oxford Instruments director of research & technology, Dr. Philippe Pinard; IOP chief executive, Tom Grinyer.
For more information:
Oxford Instruments
https://www.oxinst.com
