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December 18th, 2007
Overcoming Challenges in Advanced Semiconductor Imaging & Analysis
Dan Fineberg
FEI Global Marketing Manager, NanoElectroincs, FEI Company

Time is Money in Nano-scale Semiconductor Manufacturing

Today's advanced semiconductors are truly nano-scale devices. For example, the latest generally-available PC processors feature transistor line-widths as small as 45 nm, and process development is underway at leading manufacturers for 32 nm, 22 nm, and even smaller geometries.

The adage, "Time is money" has an overwhelming relevance in the world of volume semiconductor production. Getting to market, enhancing yields and ramping to volume-- faster-- is business-critical, and overcoming the associated nano-scale manufacturing challenges requires sophisticated "forensics." In other words, advanced manufacturing process development and control applications require advanced imaging and analysis tools to characterize defects, analyze failures, and measure critical dimensions.
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November 20th, 2007
Supporting Science and Technology Education: A Crucial Multi-Front Effort
Dan Zenka
FEI Company

FEI Company, a world leader in the creation and implementation of nanotechnology, is helping to advance science and technology programs in the United States by donating one of their Phenom microscope's to Central High School in Philadelphia. Company and governmental efforts like FEI's can help the United States remain globally competitive in science and technology by fostering early science/technology interest in children and young adults. Read the Whole Article

October 29th, 2007
FEI's new Titan3—Pushing the Limits of TEM Performance
Dr. Bert Freitag
Marketing Manager Nanoresearch and Industry, FEI Company

There are a number of factors that limit TEM resolution, but there has been recent progress toward overcoming them. Two years ago, FEI introduced the Titan™ 80-300, the first commercially available S/TEM (combining transmission and scanning transmission modes) capable of sub-Ångström resolution. FEI continues to push the limits of TEM performance with its newest creation, the Titan3. With the broadest range of applications, the Titan3 is unquestionably the world's most powerful and flexible S/TEM.
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July 21st, 2007
Vitrified samples preserve structure and context of biomolecular machines
Marc Storms
TEM Product Group, FEI Company

High resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of vitrified samples allows scientists to visualize molecular scale biological structures in pristine condition and fully hydrated native context. It has become a powerful tool for understanding the form and function of the molecular machines that constitute living systems. A new automated tool (Vitrobot™ Mark IV, FEI Company, Hillsboro, OR) addresses the difficulties of manual vitrification, allowing operators at any skill level to prepare vitrified samples quickly and reliably. Read the Whole Article

June 8th, 2007
New Challenges in Imaging and Analysis for Semiconductor Design and Manufacturing
Dan Fineberg
FEI Global Marketing Manager, NanoElectroincs, FEI Company

Volume economics drives the business models of leading semiconductor manufacturers. They invest many billions of dollars per year in capital to get new designs to market faster, to ramp to volume faster, and to improve yields on new process technologies. Read the Whole Article

April 24th, 2007
New Developments in Electron Microscopy Enable Key Trends in Nanobiological Research
Matt Harris
Vice President, Worldwide Marketing & Business Development, FEI Company

Microscopes have long been among the most important tools in the biologist's kit, starting with Leeuwenhoek's observations of single-celled "animicules," and continuing to the present day with instruments capable of resolving the shapes of individual proteins and other biological macromolecules. Recent developments in electron and ion microscopy are revolutionizing many areas of biological investigation. For simplicity, we can organize most of these developments into three categories that reflect major trends in biological sciences at the nanoscale: the continuing drive to transform the scale of our understanding from individual cells to individual molecules, the need to move from two-dimensional descriptive imaging to three- (and four) dimensional structural and mechanistic modeling, and the requirement for fast and efficient analysis of large sample sets and huge volumes of data that comprehend the vast complexity of biological systems. Read the Whole Article

March 23rd, 2007
Supporting the Next Generation of Innovation with Tools for Education
Joe Fillion
FEI Company

Last month's congressional previews of the soon-to-be-launched Phenom-Ed - the world's first tabletop scanning electron microscope (SEM) designed specifically for education reached far beyond education in the classroom. With the Phenom-Ed's ability to provide magnification far beyond the range of traditional optical microscopes and give students access to micro- and nanoscale worlds rarely seen in undergraduate and high school studies, the system provides educators with a tool to change traditional teaching methods and inspire the next generation of scientists. Read the Whole Article

March 14th, 2007
Atomic Scale Imaging Brings New Insight for Materials Science
William Neijssen
Marketing Manager, Quanta, FEI Company

Nanotechnology—the science and technology of the very small (less than 100nm)—will be the most profoundly transforming technology of our era. Skeptics may dismiss the current nano-mania as merely the latest example of über-hype in our over-communicated culture, but nanotechnologies already pervade our lives. The nanorevolution is less about the adoption of some monolithic new technology than it is the realization that almost everything in our lives—in fact life itself—is ultimately controlled by forces and processes that operate at the nanoscale. These atoms and molecules are the fundamental building blocks of our world. But the realization itself is not new. Some two thousand years ago the Greeks first spoke of "atoms", and nearly fifty years ago the noted physicist Richard Feynman may have started the revolution with his often-quoted observation that "there is plenty of room at the bottom." Read the Whole Article

January 30th, 2007
Perspective: New Generation of S/TEMs Will Play a Central Role in Continuing Nanotechnology Revolution
Dominique Hubert
FEI Company

Author: Dominique H.W. HUBERT, PhD.
Director, NanoResearch Solutions, FEI Company, the Netherlands.


The explosive growth in nanotechnology has created significant new demand for the high resolution imaging and analysis capabilities of transmission and scanning transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM). Though these are not new techniques, their reputation for difficulty, in both operation and interpretation of results, has historically limited their use to high powered research applications where the speed and cost of analysis were only secondary considerations. All that is changing. Read the Whole Article

December 15th, 2006
Public Understanding of Nanotech May Be The Most Important Enabling Tool
Dan Zenka
FEI Company

Just six years into the projected 40-year cycle of the nanotechnology industrial era, concerns of a nanotech bubble, media hype, and overall public skepticism appear to be waning. Public and private investment in nanotechnology is heating up and efforts to build public understanding are gaining momentum. Read the Whole Article

November 8th, 2006
Nanotech and Energy - A Partnership with Promise
Matt Harris
Vice President, Worldwide Marketing & Business Development, FEI Company

In his January 2006 State of the Union address, President Bush highlighted two areas that are vital to not only the United States but most industrialized countries around the world: maintaining global competitiveness and reducing growing dependency on foreign energy sources. While his support of these issues may have been delivered as two separate themes, the two are inextricably tied. Read the Whole Article
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