STEHM to Use Electron Beam and Holography

A scanning transmission electron holography microscope (STEHM) will use an electron beam and holography techniques to observe the inside of materials and their surfaces to an expected resolution of one-fiftieth the size of an atom.

The difference between the STEHM technology and existing electron microscopes is that the latter only allow scientists to view materials in 50- to 90-nanometer-thin sections. That means materials usually have to be cut apart in sections to be viewed. STEHM technology will allow scientists to see up to 500 nanometers at once.

Hitachi High-Technologies (Tokyo, Japan) is building the microscope in Japan. When installed in late 2010, it will occupy a specially adapted room of its own in one of the University of Victoria's (UVic; Victoria, BC, Canada) science buildings. It is expected to be operational by early 2011.

"This joint project will become the focal point for new discoveries at the atomic level and provide a platform for innovation for many years. We hope that this project will herald a new era of joint development and innovation between the University of Victoria and our company, and between Canada and Japan," said John S. Wilding Cole, president of Hitachi High-Technologies Canada.

The microscope is also able to observe the inside of materials as well as the outside. "Other scanning electron microscopes at the moment only look at surfaces of things," explained Dr. Elaine Humphrey, STEHM lab manager at UVic. She anticipates the microscope will be helpful in a range of fields, "from nuclear physics to fuel cells to microbiology to oceanography." Looking at the insides of brain cells, for example, will help medical professionals discover more about the debilitating disease, multiple sclerosis.

Related Links:
Hitachi High-Technologies
University of Victoria