Sep 15 2006
FEI Company and Malvern Instruments Ltd (Malvern, UK) have entered into a joint development and marketing program for advanced nanoparticle analysis utilizing Malvern’s particle image analysis software on FEI’s line of Quanta™ scanning electron microscopes (SEMs). The combination delivers a powerful particle analysis solution that extends current analysis technologies for nano-sized particles.
FEI’s Quanta SEMs offer users the flexibility to analyze materials without imposing many of the traditional SEM sample preparation constraints, thereby greatly extending the applicability for particle analysis.
Malvern’s particle image analysis software will be optimized for FEI’s Quanta SEMs. A proven solution, this package is already used on Malvern systems that encompass traditional optical microscopes, such as the Morphologi G2, with many research and industrial users around the world. These systems provide rapid data on particle size and morphology and yield distribution profiles for quality control and manufacturing applications. Rationalizing batch to batch variation of materials, identifying crystal polymorphisms and the identification of foreign bodies are just some of the current applications.
“As the size of materials used in product development and manufacturing continues to move from the microscale into the nanoscale there is an increasing need for characterization tools that move beyond the limits of light microscopy,” commented Matt Harris, FEI’s vice president of worldwide marketing and business development. “This combination of FEI and Malvern technologies provides a powerful process and quality control tool for a growing number of nano-enabled products that are moving into production.”
Malvern’s Business Development Director, Duncan Roberts said: “The joint venture with FEI is an exciting development, as this is the first time that Malvern software has been applied to another company’s instrumentation. Already proven with light microscopy, the execution of this solution on FEI systems provides SEM users with a powerful new tool.”
The bundled solution will be released later this year. It will be actively promoted to current and potential customers of both FEI and Malvern Instruments.