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Nion (company)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nion Company
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryScientific and Technical Instruments
Founded1997
FoundersOndrej Krivanek, Niklas Dellby
HeadquartersKirkland, Washington
ParentBruker
Websitenion.com
Footnotes / references
[1]

Nion is a manufacturer of scanning transmission electron microscopes (STEMs) based in Kirkland, Washington.[1]

History

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In 1997, Ondrej Krivanek and Niklas Dellby were approached by Philip Batson from IBM TJ Watson Research Center to build a STEM aberration corrector. Krivanek was a research professor at University of Washington at the time, and decided to approach the project with a new company.[2] Krivanek and Dellby used a $120,000 grant from the Royal Society to build their first aberration corrector. Soon, Nion had constructed correctors for both spherical aberration and chromatic aberration which could be retrofitted into existing STEMs. The publicity gained from this achievement led to the scientific community calling for a microscope built from the ground up with aberration correction in mind, which could have potential at reaching resolutions below 0.5 Angstroms.[3]

After developing aberration correctors as modifications for microscopes, Nion developed their first microscope, called UltraSTEM 1,[4] a new aberration corrected microscope with resolution capability below one Angstrom.[5][6]

In 2008, Nion unveiled the SuperSTEM 2, which provided 20 million times magnification. The SuperSTEM 2 was developed in collaboration with University of Liverpool, University of Glasgow, University of Leeds, and Daresbury Laboratory.[7]

In 2015, Nion delivered a Hermes Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope priced at £3.7 million to EPSRC in the UK.[8]

Awards

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In 2020, co-founder of Nion, Ondrej Krivanek, shared the Kavli Prize for Nanoscience for work creating the first aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope with resolution below one ångstrom (0.1 nanometers).[9][10][5]

Acquisition

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In January 2024, Nion was acquired by Bruker, which moved Bruker into the manufacture of electron microscopes.[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Nion Co. - About Nion". www.nion.com. Archived from the original on 2024-05-19. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
  2. ^ Pool, Rebecca (2022-11-21). "Nion: The company that transformed microscopy". Wiley Analytical Science. Archived from the original on 2024-05-24. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
  3. ^ Hawkes, P. W. (2015-09-01). "The correction of electron lens aberrations". Ultramicroscopy. 156: A9–A12. doi:10.1016/j.ultramic.2015.03.007. ISSN 0304-3991. PMID 26025209.
  4. ^ "Kirkland microscopes can examine matter one atom at a time". The Seattle Times. 2010-09-05. Archived from the original on 2016-03-25. Retrieved 2024-05-25.
  5. ^ a b Batson, P. E.; Dellby, N.; Krivanek, O. L. (2002-08-08). "Sub-ångstrom resolution using aberration corrected electron optics". Nature. 418 (6898): 617–620. Bibcode:2002Natur.418..617B. doi:10.1038/nature00972. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 12167855.
  6. ^ "IBM, Nion Create Highest-Resolution Electron Microscope". Photonics Spectra. 2002-08-14. Archived from the original on 2024-05-25.
  7. ^ "SuperSTEM 2 Unveiled". Photonics Spectra. 2008-01-25. Archived from the original on 2024-05-25.
  8. ^ "Electron microscope pinpoints position of single atoms | Laboratory Talk". laboratorytalk.com. Archived from the original on 2024-05-25. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
  9. ^ "Kirkland master of the electron microscope wins one of science's biggest prizes". The Seattle Times. 2020-05-27. Archived from the original on 2023-06-03. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
  10. ^ "Meet the Winners of the 2020 Kavli Prize". Scientific American. Archived from the original on 2023-09-22. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
  11. ^ Pool, Rebecca (2024-02-01). "Bruker with Nion: The future". Wiley Analytical Science. Archived from the original on 2024-05-23. Retrieved 2024-05-23.