Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today announced that its Thermo Scientific Nicolet iN10 MX FT-IR microscope has been selected as an R+D 100 award winner by an independent judging panel and editors of R+D Magazine.
Thermo Scientific Nicolet iN10 MX FT-IR Microscope Wins R&D 100 Award
Recognized as one of the year's 100 most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace, the Nicolet iN10 MX stood out among the other entries because of its outstanding capability to efficiently address the main challenges associated with infrared microscopy, namely system integration, complexity, accuracy and speed. The novel microscope offers high speed imaging and increased accuracy while the built-in sampling and analytical procedures ensure ease-of-use.
Infrared microscopes currently require attachment to an external infrared spectrometer, with the spectrometer's excitation energy redirected through the microscope. The Nicolet iN10 MX uniquely incorporates all of the spectrometer's infrared optics in a single, integrated system, providing much higher optical efficiency for improved sampling, enabling use of a room temperature infrared detector and reducing bench space.
In addition, the Nicolet iN10 MX eliminates the need for specialist training in microscopy or spectroscopy as, for the first time, several assisted sampling and analytical procedures are built into the microscope's optical operation and software. The pioneering FT-IR microscope enables the analysis of samples as small as three to four microns, allowing for single point analyses as well as mapping or chemical imaging analyses. Conventional infrared microscopes can only analyze samples that are a minimum of ten microns.
The Nicolet iN10 MX surpasses its competitors by facilitating the acquisition of chemical maps at a considerably faster rate. With the standard detector configuration, it is possible to map a 1.2 x 1.2 mm area in less than 4.5 minutes, while with an additional imaging detector, the system can scan the same area in only 20 seconds. This is more than ten times the speed of conventional image mapping techniques.
"We are delighted to have been awarded the R&D 100 Award. It is not only a recognition by important people close to the industry, but also a statement relative to the iN10 MX state-of-the-art technology and its ability to meet technical challenges of modern day process monitoring applications," said Mike Jost, vice president molecular spectroscopy at Thermo Fisher Scientific. "We are proud to receive recognition for our commitment to developing technological innovations to serve the needs of regulated or quality-driven analytical services, materials science and research academic laboratories."
R&D Magazine will honor the Nicolet iN10 MX project team during a Gala Awards Banquet at the Renaissance Orlando Hotel, SeaWorld, Florida, on November 12, 2009. For more information about the winning innovations and award criteria, please visit www.rdmag.com
For more information about the Thermo Scientific Nicolet iN10 MX FT-IR microscope, please call +1 800-532-4752, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.thermo.com/ftir.
Thermo Scientific is part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in serving science.