Bruker, Billerica, Mass., launched eWARP, a new electron backscatter diffraction detector that combines direct electron detection and CMOS technologies to provide the fastest and most signal-efficient materials characterization in scanning electron microscopes.
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A team of researchers, led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, made an important discovery in their quest to design the next generation of materials for modern devices—ones that are lightweight, flexible, and excellent at dissipating heat: imperfection has its upsides.
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For the first time, scientists characterize a promethium coordination complex, which furthers their understanding of elusive lanthanide elements. The rare earth element promethium is unique in that it has no stable isotopes. This means that it is constantly decaying, making it difficult to study.
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Researchers at Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany, enhanced stimulated emission depletion microscopy by replacing traditional fluorophores with nanographenes, enabling the observation of longer-duration processes, overcoming previous limitations of this type of imaging.
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New research from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Calif., aims to tackle the problem of corrosion, which costs trillions of dollars globally. Their solution is to predict failure and design better materials up front.
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Scientists at Penn Engineering, Penn Arts & Sciences, and Aarhus University found that adding just the right amount of disorder to the structure of certain materials can make them more than twice as resistant to cracking.
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Researchers at the University of Tokyo are breaking new ground being able to define which properties of concrete affect its structural characteristics under various neutron radiation loads.
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Researchers at the University of New South Wales, Australia, have created a protective barrier on the front silver grid of a TOPCon solar cell using a 1 µm copper plating layer, which reduces corrosion susceptibility and significantly lowers contaminant-induced degradation compared to unprotected reference devices.
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Nikon Corporation, Japan, launched the NEXIV VMF-K Series, a next-generation video measuring system designed to meet the increasing demands of semiconductor and electronic component inspection while significantly improving measurement throughput.
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Evident (Waltham, Mass.) announces the launch of its DSX2000 fully motorized digital microscope designed to simplify operations and boost productivity in material analysis and inspection workflows. An automated and integrated system for imaging, measurement, analysis and reporting, the advanced microscope can be easily operated by users of all skill levels for fast, precise results and high-quality macro to micro imaging at resolutions beyond 4K.
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Researchers at the Swiss Light Source (SLS) recently developed a pioneering x-ray technique to probe the 3D orientation of a material’s building blocks at the nanoscale. Applied to a polycrystalline catalyst, the technique allows the visualization of crystal grains, grain boundaries and defects—key factors dictating catalyst performance. Beyond catalysis, the innovation unlocks previously inaccessible details about the structure of diverse functional materials in numerous applications.
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Scientists at the University of Tsukuba, Japan, developed an innovative imaging method that clearly visualizes nanoscale structures within rubber materials. The new method takes traditional electron microscopy of these materials to the next level.
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The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois announced the creation of an innovative set of methods to evaluate long-term aging in real-world battery cells. The methods their researchers developed and demonstrated are based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.
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Raith, Denmark, a developer of maskless nanofabrication systems and characterization solutions, acquired Xnovo Technology ApS, a dynamic and innovative technology development company in Denmark specializing in advanced imaging methods and materials characterization.
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TESCAN Group, a.s, Czech Republic, a leading global manufacturer of electron microscopes and advanced scientific instruments, has acquired EXpressLO LLC, Lehigh Acres, Fla., a provider of innovative FIB lift-out solutions for specimen preparation in STEM and other analytical techniques.
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Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, Mass., has highlighted the ability of scanning electron microscopy to successfully capture defects when conducting failure analysis on metals.
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In a significant move to streamline mechanical testing and enhance material insights, Airbus, France, the global aerospace leader, is collaborating with Plastometrex, England, to support the standardization of profilometry-based indentation plastometry (PIP) – the innovative mechanical testing technique developed and commercialized by the Cambridge-based technology provider.
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In order to overcome a fundamental limit of silicon semiconductor technology that prevents transistors from operating below a certain voltage, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers fabricated a different type of three-dimensional transistor using a unique set of ultrathin semiconductor materials.
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HORIBA STEC, Co., Ltd., Japan, released the fully automated thin film inspection system, Xtrology, that combines spectroscopic ellipsometry, Raman spectroscopy, and photoluminescence sensors making it possible to perform important inspections, such as film thickness measurement, defect analysis, and composition analysis of various wafers with a single instrument.
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A team of researchers at Ames National Laboratory, Ames, Iowa, has made significant progress in understanding how surface oxides, a primary cause of decoherence in quantum circuits, can improve the performance of quantum computing circuits.
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Researchers at the University of Minnesota have achieved a new artificially designed material that allows electrons to move faster while remaining transparent to both visible and ultraviolet light, breaking the previous record and being pivotal in making the next generation of high-power electronics faster, transparent and more efficient.
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The Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT, Germany, is pioneering a new approach in fuel cell production by using extreme high-speed laser material deposition to create wear-resistant functional metal layers on low-cost structural steel, replacing traditional milling methods and significantly reducing costs, construction time, and tool wear.
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Using a custom-built machine to launch microprojectiles at supersonic speeds, Cornell researchers, Ithaca, N.Y., have uncovered new details about how high-speed metallic collisions can form strong, durable atomic bonds, offering insights that could enhance 3D printing and other manufacturing techniques.
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Scientists from the Research Center Future Energy Materials and Systems of the University Alliance Ruhr, Germany, used state-of-the-art microscopy and simulation techniques to systematically observe how iron atoms alter the structure of grain boundaries in titanium. They were surprised by the results: “Iron atoms not only segregate to the interface, but they form entirely unexpected cage-like structures,” explains Prof. Christian Liebscher, lead of the international research team. The researchers did not expect such a behavior.
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Nikon Corp. (Tokyo) has announced that U.K.-based LK Metrology Ltd. (Derby) has acquired Nikon’s laser scanning and Focus Inspection software business. The acquisition makes strategic sense, as the two companies have previously worked together providing non-contact inspection solutions. In addition, Nikon’s deal with long-time collaborator LK Metrology, ensures continued development of its pioneering 3D measurement technology.
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Uranium is known as the heavy metal with an intricate chemistry and diverse bonding behaviors, as well as being radioactive. Now, an international team of scientists have utilized synchrotron light at the Rossendorf Beamline (ROBL) to explore the unique properties of low-valent uranium compounds. At the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) runs four experimental stations for radiochemical experiments.
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Researchers at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) developed a new open-source software package that aims to significantly streamline the study of materials using scanning tunneling microscopes (STMs). The software, named Scanbot, automates the time-consuming probe optimization and data acquisition processes essential for STM experiments, helping to accelerate 2D materials research by enabling detailed investigation after the STM tip has been automatically optimized and sharpened.
Continue readingUranium is known as the heavy metal with an intricate chemistry and diverse bonding behaviors, as well as being radioactive. Now, an international team of scientists have utilized synchrotron light at the Rossendorf Beamline (ROBL) to explore the unique properties of low-valent uranium compounds. At the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) runs four experimental stations for radiochemical experiments.
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A team of academic and enterprise researchers at Penn State has developed a synthesis process to produce a “rust-resistant” coating with additional properties ideal for creating faster, more durable electronics.
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A research team led by Prof. JIN Haijun from the Institute of Metal Research (IMR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, recently proposed a radical new way to view voids that counters the traditional perspective that fatal flaws must be eliminated in manufacturing. They suggest that the presence of voids is not always hazardous. Instead, voids can be beneficial if they are added “properly” in the material.
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