FEI Adds Patented UniColore Technology to Versa 3D DualBeam
Versa 3D DualBeam now offers both an analytical mode, with beam currents up to100nA, and an imaging mode, with resolution of 1.4nm at 1kV -- all in one instrument.
FEI Company, a leading instrumentation company providing imaging and analysis systems for research and industry, today announced that it has added patented UniColore (UC) monochromated electron source to its versatile Versa 3D™ DualBeam™ system. UC technology improves the DualBeam’s ability to image fine surface detail at low accelerating voltages without compromising its analytical performance at high voltages and beam currents.
“Versa 3D is now the only DualBeam to combine the low-voltage imaging performance of a monochromated FEG source with the versatility and ease-of-use of a non-immersion objective lens,” stated Andre Mijiritskii, director product marketing for SEM and DualBeams, FEI Materials Science Business Unit. “As a result, it can provide high-resolution images of fine surface detail on the widest range of specimens, including non-conductive, magnetic and light-element materials, and large or odd shaped samples. The same instrument can provide the high currents and voltages needed for fast, precise analysis. The non-immersion lens performs well at longer working distances that are particularly valuable for analysis and automated procedures, such as serial slice and 3D reconstruction and TEM sample preparation.”
The UC source dramatically improves imaging resolution at low accelerating voltages by decreasing the energy spread among beam electrons, which reduces chromatic aberration and permits the beam to be focused into a smaller spot on the sample surface. Given a sufficiently small spot, image resolution and sensitivity to surface detail are further enhanced at low beam voltages by the reduction of beam penetration and scattering. Low-voltage imaging can also eliminate charging effects that interfere with imaging on non-conductive materials.
The Versa 3D DualBeam is designed with a highly-configurable platform to allow customers to adapt the system’s capabilities to their specific requirements. High vacuum, low vacuum and environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) options provide coverage of the widest range of sample types and applications.
The Versa 3D DualBeam with patented UC monochromated electron source is available now for ordering. The UC monochromator performance is also available on FEI’s Titan™ Transmission Electron Microscope, Magellan™ Extreme High Resolution Scanning Electron Microscope, and the Helios NanoLab™ DualBeam™.