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Nitto Denko Jointly Develops High-precision Three-dimensional Electron Microscopy
Completely Isotropic Spatial Resolution Achieved
12.2.2005
Nitto Analytical Techno-Center Co., Ltd. (NTC), an analytical solutions and development subsidiary of Japan’s leading optical, electronic and specialty materials technology company Nitto Denko Corporation, has jointly developed an epoch-making three-dimensional (3D) electron microscopy, the company announced today.
In collaboration with Assoc. Prof. Hiroshi Jinnai of Kyoto Institute of Technology, NTC has successfully developed a high-precision 3D electron microscopy yielding completely spatially undistorted 3D images with isotropic resolution.
Appling the CT (computerized tomography), the 3D electron microscopy is attracting much attention as it allows direct 3D observations of extremely small, nano (1-billionth of a meter)-scale structures that have been heretofore impossible with the conventional 2D microscopy.
Because it permits “quantitative evaluation” of materials from the 3D nano-structure aspect, the analytical technique is epochal in that it is applicable to activities such as the design of thin membrane structures, with prospects of broad applications in the nanotechnology-based development of diverse materials.
Background
Nanotechnology, a subject of much interest these days, helps to endow remarkable functions to materials by creating highly precise nano-scale structures in them. However, there has been no technique available to evaluate in detail the extremely small 3D structures.
Conventional 3D electron microscopy has been unable to avoid the “artifacts”, or distortion of the acquired image. That was because image acquisition from all angles around the sample, as in the case of CT scanning, has been impossible due to the architecture of the electron microscope and the shape of the sample.
While many research groups and institutions have been exploring for ways to avoid such artifact, they have not been successful in realizing a perfect spatial resolution. With the technology developed here, a 3D image without any artifact can be reconstructed by ingenuity modifying the shape of the sample holders and the samples themselves, as well as the alignment of the projections of the samples.
For example, when the technology is applied to “nano-composite materials” made by uniformly dispersing nano-particles in polymers in order to achieve a drastic improvement of material properties, the technology shows the round particles to be in fact round, whereas conventional technology would produce an image of the particles elongated into something like a rugby ball. Accordingly, the true state of particle dispersion in the composite can be precisely evaluated. Hence, it is now possible to accurately measure the volume fraction and surface area of the dispersed particles that are important parameters in materials development.
In the current trend of polymeric materials whereby they are imparted with higher functionalities and provided for broader industrial applications, chemistry-based developments of homogeneous materials are shifting to physical-chemistry-based developments by use of composites with highly functional materials. From such viewpoint, the new technology can be considered a truly epoch-making evaluation technology serving as the backbone for supporting the development of novel composite materials.
Future Business Development
NTC is already initiating measurements and analyses of materials that are relatively easy to observe by electron microscopy using the latest technology. In future, the company is planning to actively apply the technology to materials that produce images with weak contrast or that are easily damageable during processing or observation.
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